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RUBAIYAT 

OF 

OMAR KHAYYAM 

THE ASTRONOiMER-POET 
OF PERSIA 



RENDERED INTO ENGLISH VERSE 
BY 

EDWARD FITZGERALD 



COMPLETE EDITION 

SHOWING VARIANTS IN THE 

FIVE ORIGINAL PRINTINGS 



NEW YORK 
THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 



Co r u i 



tori v 



Copyright, 1921, 
BY THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY 



SEP 15 IS 



Q)C!.A62488 



PUBLISHERS' NOTE 

Ever since the Rubaiyat achieved its larger fame, the 
fact that Edward Fitzgerald made certain changes in 
succeeding versions of his translation has aroused interest 
among readers and students, but just what these changes 
comprised is known only to a few enthusiastic lovers of 
Omar. 

The question is answered once for all in the present 
book by printing the complete texts of all the original 
Fitzgerald editions (except the fourth) and a comparison 
by stanzas of the first, second, third and fifth editions 
showing variations from the final form in black face 
type — a new and graphic way of pointing out such 
changes. This method reveals many variants not dis- 
covered by former editors. 

Other special features are a list of slight variants 
shown in the fourth edition; text of stanzas which 
appeared only in the first and second editions: com- 
parative table of stanzas in the five editions ; notes by 
Fitzgerald from the third and fourth editions : note by 
G. W. Aldis Wright from the fifth edition ; bibliography 
of original Fitzgerald editions; biographical sketch of 
Fitzgerald from the memorial edition of 1887: and a 
Life of Omar Khayyam by Fitzgerald from the second 
and third editions. 

In a word, the text and editorial matter of all five of 
the original printings (with other helps) are here included 
in one volume in the sincere effort to present not simply 
another edition, but the best possible edition of the 
Fitzgerald Rubaiyat yet published. 

iii 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Purlishers' Note iii 

Edward Fitzgerald (by Michael Kerney) 5 

To E. Fitzgerald (Epilogue by Alfred, Lord Tennyson) 20 
Omar Khayyam, the Astronomer-Poet of Persia (by 

Edward Fitzgerald) . . . . 23 

Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam of NaishaptJr 39 

First Edition (1859) , 39 

Second Edition ( 1868) 59 

Third Edition (1872) 87 

Fourth and Fifth Editions (1879 and 1889) 113 

Notes to the Third and Fourth Editions (by Edward 

Fitzgerald) 139 

Note (by W. Aldis Wright) 147 

Comparison of the Five Editions, Showing Variations 

in Text 149 

Stanza which Appeared in the First Edition Only 253 

Stanzas which Appeared in the Second Edition Only.. 253 

Comparative Table of Stanzas in the Five Editions 257 

Bibliography of Original Fitzgerald Editions 261 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Drawings by Frank Brangwyn, A.R.A. 

Omar Reading Frontispiece 

FACING 
PAGE 

A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse — and Thou (XI) 40 

Ah, My Beloved, Fill the Cup (XXI) 64 

To Watch a Potter Thumping his Wet Clay (XXXVII) 96 



EDWARD FITZGERALD 

(By Michael Kerney, 1887) 

Edward Fitzgerald, whom the world has already 
learned, in spite of his own efforts to remain within the 
shadow of anonymity, to look upon as one of the rarest 
poets of the century, was born at Bredfield, in Suffolk, 
on the 31st March, 1809. He was the third son of John 
Purcell, of Kilkenny, in Ireland, who, marrying Miss 
Mary Frances Fitzgerald, daughter of John Fitzgerald, 
of Williamstown, County Waterford, added that distin- 
guished name to his own patronymic; and the future 
Omar was thus doubly of Irish extraction. (Both the 
families of Purcell and Fitzgerald claim descent from 
Norman warriors of the eleventh century.) This cir- 
cumstance is thought to have had some influence in 
attracting him to the study of Persian poetry, Iran and 
Erin being almost convertible terms in the early days 
of modern ethnology. After some years of primary 
education at the grammar school of Bury St. Edmunds, 
he entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1826, and 
there formed acquaintance with several young men of 
great abilities, most of whom rose to distinction before 
him, but never ceased to regard with affectionate remem- 
brance the quiet and amiable associate of their college- 
days. Amongst them were Alfred Tennyson, James 
Spedding, William Bodham Donne, John Mitchell Kem- 

5 



6 EDWARD FITZGERALD 

ble, and William Makepeace Thackeray; and their long 
friendship has been touchingly referred to by the Lau- 
reate in dedicating his last poem to the memory of 
Edward Fitzgerald. "Euphranor," our author's earliest 
printed work, affords a curious picture of his academic 
life and associations. Its substantial reality is evident 
beneath the thin disguise of the symbolical or classical 
names which he gives to the personages of the colloquy; 
and the speeches which he puts into his own mouth are 
full of the humorous gravity, the whimsical and kindly 
philosophy, which remained his distinguishing character- 
istics till the end. This book was first published in 
1851; a second and a third edition were printed some 
years later; all anonymous, and each of the latter two 
differing from its predecessor by changes in the text 
which were not indicated on the title-pages. 

"Euphranor" furnishes a good many characterizations 
which would be useful for any writer treating upon 
Cambridge society in the third decade of this century. 
Kenelm Digby, the author of the "Broadstone of Hon- 
our," had left Cambridge before the time when Euphra- 
nor held his "dialogue," but he is picturesquely recol- 
lected as "a grand swarthy fellow who might have 
stepped out of the canvas of some knightly portrait in 
his father's hall — perhaps the living image of one sleep- 
ing under some cross-legged effigies in the church." In 
"Euphranor," it is easy to discover the earliest phase 
of the unconquerable attachment which Fitzgerald enter- 
tained for his college and his life-long friends, and which 
induced him in later days to make frequent visits to 



BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE 7 

Cambridge, renewing and refreshing the old ties of cus- 
tom and friendship. In fact, his disposition was affec- 
tionate to a fault, and he betrayed his consciousness of 
weakness in "that respect by referring playfully at times 
to "a certain natural lubricity" which he attributed to 
the Irish character, and professed to discover especially 
in himself. This amiability of temper endeared him to 
many friends of totally dissimilar tastes and qualities; 
and, by enlarging his sympathies, enabled him to enjoy 
the fructifying influence of studies pursued in communion 
with scholars more profound than himself, but less gifted 
with the power of expression. One of the younger 
Cambridge men with whom he became intimate during 
his periodical pilgrimages to the university, was Edward 
B. Cowell, a man of the highest attainment in Oriental 
learning, who resembled Fitzgerald himself in the pos- 
session of a warm and genial heart and the most unob- 
trusive modesty. From Cowell he could easily learn 
that the hypothetical affinity between the names of Erin 
and Iran belonged to an obsolete stage of etymology ; but 
the attraction of a far-fetched theory was replaced by 
the charm of reading Persian poetry in companionship 
with his young friend, who was equally competent to 
enjoy and to analyze the beauties of a literature that 
formed a portion of his regular studies. They read 
together the poetical remains of Khayyam — a choice of 
reading which sufficiently indicates the depth and range 
of Mr. Cowell's knowledge. Omar Khayyam, although 
not quite forgotten, enjoyed in the history of Persian 
literature a celebrity like that of Occleve and Gower in 



8 EDWARD FITZGERALD 

our own. In the many Tazkirat (memoirs or memorials) 
of Poets, he was mentioned and quoted with esteem; 
but his poems, labouring as they did under the original 
sin of heresy and atheism, were seldom looked at, and, 
from lack of demand on the part of readers, had become 
rarer than those of most other writers since the days of 
Firdausi. European scholars knew little of his works 
beyond his Arabic treatise on Algebra, and Mr. Cowell 
may be said to have disentombed his poems from obliv- 
ion. Now, thanks to the fine taste of that scholar, and 
to the transmuting genius of Fitzgerald, no Persian poet 
is so well known in the western world as Abu-'l-fat'h 
'Omar son of Ibrahim the Tentmaker of Naishapur, 
whose manhood synchronizes with the Norman conquest 
of England, and who took for his poetic name (takhal- 
lus) the designation of his father's trade (Khayyam). 
The "Ruba'iyyat" (Quatrains) do not compose a single 
poem divided into a certain number of stanzas ; there is 
no continuity of plan in them, and each stanza is a dis- 
tinct thought expressed in musical verse. There is no 
other element of unity in them than the general tendency 
of the Epicurean idea, and the arbitrary divan form by 
which they are grouped according to the alphabetical 
arrangement of the final letters ; those in which the 
rhymes end in a constituting the first division, those with 
b the second, and so on. The peculiar attitude towards 
religion and the old questions of fate, immortality, the 
origin and the destiny of man, which educated thinkers 
have assumed in the present age of Christendom, is 
found admirably foreshadowed in the fantastic verses 






BIOGRAPHICAL PKEFACE 9 

of Khayyam, who was no more of a Mohammedan than 
many of our best writers are Christians. His philosoph- 
ical and Horatian fancies — graced as they are by the 
charms of a lyrical expression equal to that of Horace, 
and a vivid brilliance of imagination to which the Roman 
poet could make no claim — exercised a powerful influence 
upon Fitzgerald's mind, and coloured his thoughts to 
such a degree that even when he oversteps the largest 
licence allowed to a translator, his phrases reproduce the 
spirit and manner of his original with a nearer approach 
to perfection than would appear possible. It is usually 
supposed that there is more of Fitzgerald than of Khay- 
yam in the English "Ruba'iyyat," and that the old Persian 
simply afforded themes for the Anglo-Irishman's display 
of poetic power; but nothing could be further from the 
truth. The French translator, J. B. Nicolas, and the 
English one, Mr. Whinfield, supply a closer mechanical 
reflection of the sense in each separate stanza; but Mr. 
Fitzgerald has, in some instances, given a version equally 
close and exact; in others, re jointed scattered phrases 
from more than one stanza of his original, and thus 
accomplished a feat of marvellous poetical transfusion. 
He frequently turns literally into English the strange 
outlandish imagery which Mr. Whinfield thought neces- 
sary to replace by more intelligible banalities, and in 
this way the magic of his genius has successfully trans- 
planted into the garden of English poesy exotics that 
bloom like native flowers. 

One of Mr. Fitzgerald's Woodbridge friends was Ber- 
nard Barton, the Quaker poet, with whom he maintained 



10 EDWARD FITZGERALD 

for many years the most intimate and cordial intercourse, 
and whose daughter Lucy he married. He wrote the 
memoir of his friend's life which appeared in the pos- 
thumous volume of Barton's poems. The story of his 
married life was a short one. With all the overflowing 
amiability of his nature, there were mingled certain 
peculiarities or waywardnesses which were more suit- 
able to the freedom of celibacy than to the staidness 
of matrimonial life. A separation took place by mutual 
agreement, and Fitzgerald behaved in this circumstance 
with the generosity and unselfishness which were appar- 
ent in all his whims no less than in his more deliberate 
actions. Indeed, his entire career was marked by an 
unchanging goodness of heart and a genial kindliness; 
and no one could complain of having ever endured hurt 
or ill-treatment at his hands. His pleasures were inno- 
cent and simple. Amongst the more delightful, he 
counted the short coasting trips, occupying no more than 
a day or two at a time, which he used to make in his 
own yacht from Lowestoft, accompanied only by a crew 
of two men, and such a friend as Cowell, with a large 
pasty and a few bottles of wine to supply their material 
wants. It is needless to say that books were also put 
into the cabin, and that the symposia of the friends were 
thus brightened by communion with the minds of the 
great departed. Fitzgerald's enjoyment of gnomic wis- 
dom enshrined in words of exquisite propriety was 
evinced by the frequency with which he used to read 
Montaigne's essays and Madame de Sevigne's letters, 
and the various works from which he extracted and 



BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE 11 

published his collection of wise saws entitled "Polonius." 
This taste was allied to a love for what was classical 
and correct in literature, by which he was also enabled 
to appreciate the prim and formal muse of Crabbe, in 
whose grandson's house he died. 

His second printed work was the "Polonius," already 
referred to, which appeared in 1852. It exemplifies his 
favourite reading, being a collection of extracts, some- 
times short proverbial phrases, sometimes longer pieces 
of characterization or reflection, arranged under abstract 
headings. He occasionally quotes Dr. Johnson, for whom 
he entertained sincere admiration ; but the ponderous and 
artificial fabric of Johnsonese did not please him like 
the language of Bacon, Fuller, Sir Thomas Browne, 
Coleridge, whom he cites frequently. A disproportion- 
ate abundance of wise words was drawn from Carlyle; 
his original views, his forcible sense, and the friendship 
with which Fitzgerald regarded him, having apparently 
blinded the latter to the ungainly style and ungraceful 
mannerisms of the Chelsea sage. (It was Thackeray 
who first made them personally acquainted forty years 
ago; and Fitzgerald remained always loyal to his first 
instincts of affection and admiration. 1 ) Polonius also 

1 The close relation that subsisted between Fitzgerald and Car- 
lyle has lately been made patent by an article in the Historical 
Review upon the Squire papers, — those celebrated documents pur- 
porting to be contemporary records of Cromwell's time, — which 
were accepted by Carlyle as genuine, but which other scholars 
have asserted from internal evidence to be modern forgeries. 
However the question may be decided, the fact which concerns us 
here is that our poet was the negotiator between Mr. Squire and 
Carlyle, and that his correspondence with the latter upon the 
subject reveals the intimate nature of their acquaintance. 



12 EDWARD FITZGERALD 

marks the period of his earliest attention to Persian 
studies, as he quotes in it the great Sufi poet Jalal-ud- 
din-Rumi, whose "Masnavi" has lately been translated 
into English by Mr. Redhouse, but whom Fitzgerald 
can only have seen in the original. He, however, spells 
the name Jallaladin, an incorrect form of which he could 
not have been guilty at the time when he produced Omar 
Khayyam, and which thus betrays that he had not long 
been engaged with Irani literature. He was very fond 
of Montaigne's essays, and of Pascal's "Pensees" ; but 
his "Polonius" reveals a sort of dislike and contempt 
for Voltaire. Amongst the Germans, Jean Paul, Goethe, 
Alexander von Humboldt, and August Wilhelm von 
Schlegel attracted him greatly; but he seems to have 
read little German, and probably only quoted transla- 
tions. His favourite motto was "Plain Living and High 
Thinking," and he expresses great reverence for all 
things manly, simple, and true. The laws and institu- 
tions of England were, in his eyes, of the highest value 
and sacredness; and whatever Irish sympathies he had 
would never have diverted his affections from the Union 
to Home Rule. This is strongly illustrated by some 
original lines of blank verse at the end of "Polonius," 
annexed to his quotation, under "^Esthetics," of the words 
in which Lord Palmerston eulogized Mr. Gladstone for 
having devoted his Neapolitan tour to an inspection of 
the prisons. 

Fitzgerald's next printed work was a translation of 
Six Dramas of Calderon, published in 1853, which was 
unfavourably received at the time, and consequently with- 



BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE J 3 

drawn by him from circulation. His name appeared on 
the title-page, — a concession to publicity which was so 
unusual with him that it must have been made under 
strong pressure from his friends. The book is in nervous 
blank verse, a mode of composition which he handled 
with great ease and skill. There is no waste of power 
in diffuseness and no employment of unnecessary epi- 
thets. It gives the impression of a work of the Shake- 
spearean age, and reveals a kindred felicity, strength, 
and directness of language. It deserves to rank with 
his best efforts in poetry, but its ill-success made him 
feel that the publication of his name was an unfavour- 
able experiment, and he never again repeated it. His 
great modesty, however, would sufficiently account for 
this shyness. Of "Omar Khayyam," even after the little 
book had won its way to general esteem, he used to say 
that the suggested addition of his name on the title 
would imply an assumption of importance which he con- 
sidered that his "transmogrification" of the Persian poet 
did not possess. 

Fitzgerald's conception of a translator's privilege is 
well set forth in the prefaces of his versions from Cal- 
deron, and the "Agamemnon" of ^Eschylus. He main- 
tained that, in the absence of the perfect poet, who shall 
re-create in his own language the body and soul of his 
original, the best system is that of a paraphrase con- 
serving the spirit of the author, — a sort of literary 
metempsychosis. Calderon, iEschylus, and Omar Khay- 
yam were all treated with equal licence, so far as form 
is concerned, — the last, perhaps, the most arbitrarily; 



14 EDWARD FITZGERALD 

but the result is not unsatisfactory as having given us 
perfect English poems instinct with the true flavour of 
their prototypes. The Persian was probably somewhat 
more Horatian and less melancholy, the Greek a little 
less florid and mystic, the Spaniard more lyrical and 
fluent, than their metaphrast has made them; but the 
essential spirit has not escaped in transfusion. Only a 
man of singular gifts could have performed the achieve- 
ment, and these works attest Mr. Fitzgerald's right to 
rank amongst the finest poets of the century. About 
the same time as he printed his Calderon, another set 
of translations from the same dramatist was published 
by the late D. F. MacCarthy ; a scholar whose acquaint- 
ance with Castilian literature was much deeper than 
Mr. Fitzgerald's, and who also possessed poetical abil- 
ities of no mean order, with a totally different sense 
of the translator's duty. The popularity of MacCarthy's 
versions has been considerable, and as an equivalent ren- 
dering of the original in sense and form his work is 
valuable. Spaniards familiar with the English language 
rate its merit highly; but there can be little question of 
the very great superiority of Mr. Fitzgerald's work as 
a contribution to English literature. It is indeed only 
from this point of view that we should regard all the 
literary labours of our author. They are English poetical 
work of fine quality, dashed with a pleasant outlandish 
flavour which heightens their charm; and it is as Eng- 
lish poems, not as translations, that they have endeared 
themselves even more to the American English than to 
the mixed Britons of England. 



BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE 15 

It was an occasion of no small moment to Mr. Fitz- 
gerald's fame, and to the intellectual gratification of 
many thousands of readers, when he took his little packet 
of "Ruba'iyyat" to Mr. Quaritch in the latter part of 
the year 1858. It was printed as a small quarto pamphlet, 
bearing the publisher's name but not the author's; and 
although apparently a complete failure at first, — a failure 
which Mr. Fitzgerald regretted less on his own account 
than on that of his publisher, to whom he had generously 
made a present of the book, — received, nevertheless, a 
sufficient distribution by being quickly reduced from the 
price of five shillings and placed in the box of cheap 
books marked a penny each. Thus forced into circula- 
tion, the two hundred copies which had been printed 
were soon exhausted. Among the buyers were Dante 
Gabriel Rossetti, Mr. Swinburne, Captain (now Sir 
Richard) Burton, and Mr. William Simpson, the accom- 
plished artist of the Illustrated London News. The 
influence exercised by the first three, especially by Ros- 
setti, upon a clique of young men who have since grown 
to distinction, was sufficient to attract observation to 
the singular beauties of the poem anonymously translated 
from the Persian. Most readers had no possible oppor- 
tunity of discovering whether it was a disguised original 
or an actual translation; — even Captain Burton enjoyed 
probably but little chance of seeing a manuscript of the 
Persian "Ruba'iyyat." The Oriental imagery and allu- 
sions were too thickly scattered throughout the verses 
to favour the notion that they could be the original work 
of an Englishman; yet it was shrewdly, suspected by 



16 EDWARD FITZGERALD 

most of the appreciative readers that the "translator" 
was substantially the author and creator of the poem. 
In the refuge of his anonymity, Fitzgerald derived an 
innocent gratification from the curiosity that was aroused 
on all sides. After the first edition had disappeared, 
inquiries for the little book became frequent, and in the 
year 1868 he gave the MS. of his second edition to Mr. 
Quaritch, and the "Ruba'iyyat" came into circulation 
once more, but with several alterations and additions by 
which the number of stanzas was somewhat increased 
beyond the original seventy-five. Most of the changes 
were, as might have been expected, improvements ; but 
in some instances the author's taste or caprice was at 
fault, — notably in the first Ruba'iy. His fastidious desire 
to avoid anything that seemed baroque or unnatural, or 
appeared like plagiarism, may have influenced him, but 
it was probably because he had already used the idea in 
his rendering of Jami's "Salaman," that he sacrificed a 
fine and novel piece of imagery in his first stanza and 
replaced it by one of much more ordinary character. 
If it were from a dislike to pervert his original too 
largely, he had no need to be so scrupulous, since he 
dealt on the whole with the "Ruba'iyyat" as though he 
had the licence of absolute authorship, changing, trans- 
posing, and manipulating the substance of the Persian 
quatrains with singular freedom. The vogue of "old 
Omar" (as he would affectionately call his work) went 
on increasing, and American readers took it up with 
eagerness. In those days, the mere mention of Omar 
Khayyam between two strangers meeting fortuitously 



BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE 17 

acted like a sign of freemasonry and established fre- 
quently a bond of friendship. Some curious instances 
of this have been related. A remarkable feature of the 
Omar-cult in the United States was the circumstance 
that single individuals bought numbers of copies for 
gratuitous distribution before the book was reprinted in 
America. Its editions have been relatively numerous, 
when we consider how restricted was the circle of readers 
who could understand the peculiar beauties of the work. 
A third edition appeared in 1872, with some further 
alterations, and may be regarded as virtually the author's 
final revision, for it hardly differs at all from the text 
of the fourth edition, which appeared in 1879. This last 
formed the first portion of a volume entitled "Rubaiyat 
of Omar Khayyam; and the Salaman and Absal of 
Jami; rendered into English verse." The "Salaman" 
(which had already been printed in separate form in 
1856) is a poem chiefly in blank verse, interspersed with 
various metres (although it is all in one measure in the 
original) embodying a love-story of mystic significance; 
for Jami was, unlike Omar Khayyam, a true Sufi, and 
indeed differed in other respects, his celebrity as a pious 
Mussulman doctor being equal to his fame as a poet. 
He lived in the fifteenth century, in a period of literary 
brilliance and decay; and the rich exuberance of his 
poetry, full of far-fetched conceits, involved expressions, 
overstrained imagery, and false taste, offers a strong 
contrast to the simpler and more forcible language of 
Khayyam. There is little use of Arabic in the earlier 
poet ; he preferred the vernacular speech to the mongrel 



18 EDWARD FITZGERALD 

language which was fashionable among the heirs of the 
Saracen conquerors; but Jami's composition is largely 
embroidered with Arabic. 

Mr. Fitzgerald had from his early days been thrown 
into contact with the Crabbe family ; the Reverend George 
Crabbe (the poet's grandson) was an intimate friend of 
his, and it was on a visit to Morton Rectory that Fitz- 
gerald died. As we know that friendship has power to 
warp the judgment, we shall not probably be wrong in 
supposing that his enthusiastic admiration for Crabbe's 
poems was not the product of sound, impartial criticism. 
He attempted to reintroduce them to the world by pub- 
lishing a little volume of "Readings from Crabbe," pro- 
duced in the last year of his life, but without success. 
A different fate awaited his "Agamemnon: a tragedy 
taken from ^Eschylus," which was first printed privately 
by him, and afterwards published with alterations in 
1876. It is a very free rendering from the Greek, and 
full of a poetical beauty which is but partly assignable to 
^schylus. Without attaining to anything like the celeb- 
rity and admiration which have followed Omar Khay- 
yam, the "Agamemnon" has achieved much more than 
a succes d'estime. Mr. Fitzgerald's renderings from the 
Greek were not confined to this one essay ; he also trans- 
lated the two CEdipus dramas of Sophocles, but left them 
unfinished in manuscript till Prof. Eliot Norton had a 
sight of them about seven or eight years ago and urged 
him to complete his work. When this was done, he had 
them set in type, but only a very few proofs can have 
been struck off, as it seems that, at least in England, 



BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE 19 

no more than one or two copies were sent out by the 
author. In a similar way he printed translations of two 
of Calderon's plays not included in the published "Six 
Dramas" — namely, "La Vida es Suefio," and "El Magico 
Prodigioso," (both ranking among the Spaniard's finest 
work;) but they also were withheld from the public and 
all but half a dozen friends. 

When his old boatman died, about ten years ago, he 
abandoned his nautical exercises and gave up his yacht 
forever. During the last few years of his life, he divided 
his time between Cambridge, Crabbe's house, and his 
own home at Little Grange, near Woodbridge, where he 
received occasional visits from friends and relatives. 

This edition of the "Omar Khayyam" is a modest me- 
morial of one of the most modest men who have enriched 
English literature with poetry of distinct and permanent 
value. His best epitaph is found in Tennyson's "Tiresias 
and other poems," published immediately after our 
author's quiet exit from life, in 1883, in the seventy-fifth 
year of his age. 

M. K. 



TO E. FITZGERALD. 1 

Old Fitz, who from your suburb grange 

Where once I tarried for a while, 
Glance at the wheeling Orb of change, 

And greet it with a kindly smile; 
Whom yet I see as there you sit 

Beneath your sheltering garden-tree, 
And watch your doves about you flit, 

And plant on shoulder, hand and knee, 
Or on your head their rosy feet, 

As if they knew your diet spares 
Whatever moved in that full sheet 

Let down to Peter at his prayers : 
Who live on milk and meal and grass; 

And once for ten long weeks I tried 
Your table of Pythagoras, 

And seem'd at first "a thing enskied" 
(As Shakespeare has it) airy-light 

To float above the ways of men, 
Then fell from that half -spiritual height 

Chill'd, till I tasted flesh again 

1 Epilogue by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. 
20 



TO E. FITZGERALD 21 

One night when earth was winter-black, 

And all the heavens flash'd in frost: 
And on me, half-asleep, came back 

That wholesome heat the blood had lost, 
And set me climbing icy capes 

And glaciers, over which there roll'd 
To meet me long-arm'd vines with grapes 

Of Eshcol hugeness ; for the cold 
Without, and warmth within me, wrought 

To mould the dream ; but none can say- 
That Lenten fare makes Lenten thought, 

Who reads your golden Eastern lay, 
Than which I know no version done 

In English more divinely well; 
A planet equal to the sun 

Which cast it, that large infidel 
Your Omar; and your Omar drew 

Full-handed plaudits from our best 
In modern letters, and from two, 

Old friends outvaluing all the rest. 
Two voices heard on earth no more ; 

But we old friends are still alive, 
And I am nearing seventy-four, 

While you have touch'd at seventy-five, 
And so I send a birthday line 

Of greeting; and my son, who dipt 
In some forgotten book of mine 

With sallow scraps of manuscript, 



22 TO E. FITZGERALD 

And dating many a year ago, 

Has hit on this, which you will take 
My Fitz, and welcome, as I know 

Less for its own than for the sake 
Of one recalling gracious times, 

When, in our younger London days, 
You found some merit in my rhymes, 

And I more pleasure in your praise. 



OMAR KHAYYAM 

THE 

ASTRONOMER-POET OF PERSIA 
(By Edward Fitzgerald, 1868 and 1872) 

Omar Khayyam was born at Naishapur in Khorassan 
in the latter half of our Eleventh, and died within the 
First Quarter of our Twelfth Century. The slender 
Story of his Life is curiously twined about that of two 
other very considerable Figures in their Time and Coun- 
try : one of whom tells the Story of all Three. This was 
Nizam ul Mulk, Vizyr to Alp Arslan the Son, and Malik 
Shah the Grandson, of Toghrul Beg the Tartar, who had 
wrested Persia from the feeble Successor of Mahmud 
the Great, and founded that Seljukian Dynasty which 
finally roused Europe into the Crusades. This Nizam 
ul Mulk, in his Wasiyai — or Testament — which he wrote 
and left as a Memorial for future Statesmen — relates 
the following, as quoted in the Calcutta Review, No. 59, 
from Mirkhond's History of the Assassins. 

" 'One of the greatest of the wise men of Khorassan 
was the Imam MowafTak of Naishapur, a man highly 
honoured and reverenced, — may God rejoice his soul; 
his illustrious years exceeded eighty-five, and it was the 

23 



24 OMAR KHAYYAM 

universal belief that every boy who read the Koran or 
studied the traditions in his presence, would assuredly 
attain to honour and happiness. For this cause did my 
father send me from Tus to Naishapur with Abd-us- 
samad, the doctor of law, that I might employ myself in 
study and learning under the guidance of that illustrious 
teacher. Towards me he ever turned an eye of favour 
and kindness, and as his pupil I felt for him extreme 
affection and devotion, so that I passed four years in 
his service. When I first came there, I found two other 
pupils of mine own age newly arrived, Hakim Omar 
Khayyam, and the ill-fated Ben Sabbah. Both were 
endowed with sharpness of wit and the highest natural 
powers ; and we three formed a close friendship together. 
When the Imam rose from his lectures, they used to 
join me, and we repeated to each other the lessons we 
had heard. Now Omar was a native of Naishapur, 
while Hasan Ben Sabbah's father was one Ali, a man 
of austere life and practice, but heretical in his creed 
and doctrine. One day Hasan said to me and to Khay- 
yam, 'It is a universal belief that the pupils of the Imam 
Mowaffak will attain to fortune. Now, even if we all 
do not attain thereto, without doubt one of us will ; what 
then shall be our mutual pledge and bond?' We an- 
swered, 'Be it what you please/ 'Well/ he said, 'let 
us make a vow, that to whomsoever this fortune falls, he 
shall share it equally with the rest, and reserve no pre- 
eminence for himself/ 'Be it so,' we both replied, and 
on those terms we mutually pledged our words. Years 
rolled on, and I went from Khorassan to Transoxiana, 



THE ASTRONOMER-POET OF PERSIA 25 

and wandered to Ghazni and Cabul ; and when I returned, 
I was invested with office, and rose to be administrator 
of affairs during the Sultanate of Sultan Alp Arslan.' 

"He goes on to state, that years passed by, and both 
his old school-friends found him out, and came and 
claimed a share in his good fortune, according to the 
school-day vow. The Vizier was generous and kept his 
word. Hasan demanded a place in the government, 
which the Sultan granted at the Vizier's request; but 
discontented with a gradual rise, he plunged into the 
maze of intrigue of an oriental court, and, failing in a 
base attempt to supplant his benefactor, he was disgraced 
and fell. After many mishaps and wanderings, Hasan 
became the head of the Persian sect of the Ismailians, 
— a party of fanatics who had long murmured in ob- 
scurity, but rose to an evil eminence under the guidance 
of his strong and evil will. In a.d. 1090, he seized the 
castle of Alamut, in the province of Rudbar, which lies 
in the mountainous tract south of the Caspian Sea ; and 
it was from this mountain home he obtained that evil 
celebrity among the Crusaders as the OLD MAN OF 
THE MOUNTAINS, and spread terror through the 
Mohammedan world; and it is yet disputed whether the 
word Assassin, which they have left in the language of 
modern Europe as their dark memorial, is derived from 
the hashish, or opiate of hemp-leaves (the Indian bhang), 
with which they maddened themselves to the sullen pitch 
of oriental desperation, or from the name of the founder 
of the dynasty, whom we have seen in his quiet collegiate 
days, at Naishapur. One of the countless victims of 



26 OMAR KHAYYAM 

the Assassin's dagger was Nizam-ul-Mulk himself, the 
old school-boy friend. 1 

"Omar Khayyam also came to the Vizier to claim his 
share; but not to ask for title or office. The greatest 
boon you can confer on me/ he said, 'is to let me live 
in a corner under the shadow of your fortune, to spread 
wide the advantages of Science, and pray for your long 
life and prosperity.' The Vizier tells us, that, when he 
found Omar was really sincere in his refusal, he pressed 
him no further, but granted him a yearly pension of 
1200 mithkdls of gold, from the treasury of Naishapur. 

"At Naishapur thus lived and died Omar Khayyam, 
'busied/ adds the Vizier, 'in winning knowledge of every 
kind, and especially in Astronomy, wherein he attained 
to a very high pre-eminence. Under the Sultanate of 
Malik Shah, he came to Merv, and obtained great praise 
for his proficiency in science, and the Sultan showered 
favours upon him.' 

"When Malik Shah determined to reform the calen- 
dar, Omar was one of the eight learned men employed 
to do it, the result was the Jaldli era (so called from 
Jalal-ud-din, one of the king's names) — 'a computation 
of time/ says Gibbon, 'which surpasses the Julian and 
approaches the accuracy of the Gregorian style.' He is 
also the author of some astronomical tables, entitled 

1 Some of Omar's Rubaiyat warn us of the danger of Greatness, 
the instability of Fortune, and while advocating Charity to all 
Men, recommending us to be too intimate with none. Attar makes 
Nizam-ul-Mulk use the very words of his friend Omar [Rub. 
xxviii.], "When Nizam-ul-Mulk was in the Agony (of Death) he 
said, 'Oh God ! I am passing away in the hand of the wind/ " 



THE ASTRONOMER-POET OF PERSIA 27 

Ziji-Malikshahi," and the French have lately republished 
and translated an Arabic Treatise of his on Algebra. 

"His Takhallus or poetical name (Khayyam) signifies 
a Tent-maker, and he is said to have at one time exer- 
cised that trade, perhaps before Nizam-ul-Mulk's gener- 
osity raised him to independence. Many Persian poets 
similarly derive their names from their occupations; 
thus we have Attar, 'a druggist/ Assar, 'an oil presser/ 
etc. 1 Omar himself alludes to his name in the following 
whimsical lines: — 

'Khayyam, who stitched the tents of science, 
Has fallen in grief's furnace and been suddenly burned; 
The shears of Fate have cut the tent ropes of his life, 
And the broker of Hope has sold him for nothing!' 

"We have only one more anecdote to give of his Life, 
and that relates to the close ; it is told in the anonymous 
preface which is sometimes prefixed to his poems; it 
has been printed in the Persian in the Appendix to 
Hyde's Veterum Per.saram Religio, p. 499; and D'Her- 
belot alludes to it in his Bibliotheque, under Khiam. 2 — 

" Tt is written in the chronicles of the ancients that 
this King of the Wise, Omar Khayyam, died at Naisha- 
pur in the year of the Hegira, 517 (a. d. 1123); in 
science he was unrivalled, — the very paragon of his 
age. Khwajah Nizami of Samarcand, who was one of 
his pupils, relates the following story: 'I often used to 
hold conversations with my teacher, Omar Khayyam, 

1 Though all these, like our Smiths, Archers, Millers, Fletchers, 
etc., may simply retain the Surname of an hereditary calling. 

2 "Philosophe Musulman qui a vecu en Odeur de Saintete dans 
sa Religion, vers la Fin du premier et le Commencement du second 
Siecle." no part of which, except the "Philosophe," can apply to 
our Khayyam. 



28 OMAR KHAYYAM 

in a garden ; and one day he said to me, 'My tomb shall 
be in a spot where the north wind may scatter roses 
over it/ I wondered at the words he spake, but I knew 
that his were no idle words. 1 Years after, when I 
chanced to revisit Naishapur, I went to his final resting- 
place, and lo! it was just outside a garden, and trees 
laden with fruit stretched their boughs over the garden 
wall, and dropped their flowers upon his tomb, so that 
the stone was hidden under them/ " 

Thus far — without fear of Trespass — from the Cal- 
cutta Review. The writer of it, on reading in India 
this story of Omar's Grave was reminded, he says, of 
Cicero's Account of finding Archimedes' Tomb at Syra- 
cuse, buried in grass and weeds. I think Thorwaldsen 
desired to have roses grow over him; a wish religiously 
fulfilled for him to the present day, I believe. However, 
to return to Omar. 

Though the Sultan "shower'd Favours upon him," 
Omar's Epicurean Audacity of Thought and Speech 

1 The rashness of the Words, according to D'Herbelot, con- 
sisted in being so opposed to those in the Koran : "No Man knows 
where he shall die." — This story of Omar reminds me of another 
so naturally — and when one remembers how wide of his humble 
mark the noble sailor aimed — so pathetically told by Captain 
Cook — not by Doctor Hawkes worth — in his Second Voyage (i. 
374). When leaving Ulietea, "Oreo's last request was for me to 
return. When he saw he could not obtain that promise, he asked 
the name of my Marai (burying-place). As strange a question 
as this was, I hesitated not a moment to tell him 'Stepney,' the 
parish in which I live when in London. I was made to repeat it 
several times over till they could pronounce it ; and then 'Stepney 
Marai no Toote' was echoed through an hundred mouths at once. 
I afterwards found the same question had been put to Mr. Forster 
by a man on shore ; but he gave a different, and indeed more 
proper answer, by saying, 'No man who used the sea could say 
where he should be buried.' " 



THE ASTRONOMER-POET OF PERSIA 29 

caused him to be regarded askance in his own Time 
and Country. He is said to have been especially hated 
and dreaded by the Sufis, whose Practice he ridiculed, 
and whose Faith amounts to little more than his own, 
when stript of the Mysticism and formal recognition 
of Islamism under which Omar would not hide. Their 
Poets, including Hafiz, who are (with the exception of 
Firdausi) the most considerable in Persia, borrowed 
largely, indeed, of Omar's material, but turning it to a 
mystical Use more convenient to Themselves and the 
People they addressed ; a People quite as quick of Doubt 
as of Belief ; as keen of Bodily Sense as of Intellectual ; 
and delighting in a cloudy composition of both, in which 
they could float luxuriously between Heaven and Earth, 
and this World and the Next, on the wings of a poetical 
expression, that might serve indifferently for either. 
Omar was too honest of Heart as well as of Head for 
this. Having failed (however mistakenly) of finding 
any Providence but Destiny, and any World but This, 
he set about making the most of it ; preferring rather to 
soothe the Soul through the Senses into Acquiescence 
with Things as he saw them, than to perplex it with vain 
disquietude after what they might be. It has been seen, 
however, that his Worldly Ambition was not exorbitant ; 
and he very likely takes a humorous or perverse pleasure 
in exalting the gratification of Sense above that of the 
Intellect, in which he must have taken great delight, 
although it failed to answer the Questions in which he, 
in common with all men, was most vitally interested. 
For whatever Reason, however, Omar, as before said, 



30 OMAR KHAYYAM 

has never been popular in his own Country, and therefore 
has been but scantily transmitted abroad. The MSS. of 
his Poems, mutilated beyond the average Casualties of 
Oriental Transcription, are so rare in the East as scarce 
to have reacht Westward at all, in spite of all the acqui- 
sitions of Arms and Science. There is no copy at the 
India House, none at the Bibliotheque Nationale of 
Paris. We know but of one in England: No. 140 of 
the Ouseley MSS. at the Bodleian, written at Shiraz, 
a.d. 1460. This contains but 158 Rubaiyat. One in the 
Asiatic Society's Library at Calcutta (of which we have 
a Copy), contains (and yet incomplete) 516, though 
swelled to that by all kinds of Repetition and Corruption. 
So Von Hammer speaks of his copy as containing about 
200, while Dr. Sprenger catalogues the Lucknow MS. 
at double that number. 1 The Scribes, too, of the Oxford 
and Calcutta MSS. seem to do their Work under a sort 
of Protest; each beginning with a Tetrastich (whether 
genuine or not), taken out of its alphabetical order; the 
Oxford with one of Apology; the Calcutta with one of 
Expostulation, supposed (says a Notice prefixed to the 
MS.) to have arisen from a Dream, in which Omar's 
mother asked about his future fate. It may be rendered 
thus : — 

"Oh Thou who burn'st in Heart for those who burn 
In Hell, whose fires thyself shall feed in turn; 
How long be crying, 'Mercy on them, God !' 
Why, who art Thou to teach, and He to learn?" 

1 "Since this paper was written" (adds the Reviewer in a note), 
"we have met with a Copy of a very rare Edition, printed at 
Calcutta in 1836. This contains 438 Tetrastich s, with an Appendix 
containing 54 others not found in some MSS." 



THE ASTRONOMER-POET OF PERSIA 31 

The Bodleian Quatrain pleads Pantheism by way of 
Justification. 

"If I myself upon a looser Creed 
Have loosely strung the Jewel of Good deed, 
Let this one thing for my Atonement plead : 
That One for Two I never did mis-read." 

The Reviewer, 1 to whom I owe the Particulars of 
Omar's Life, concludes his Review by comparing him 
with Lucretius, both as to natural Temper and Genius, 
and as acted upon by the Circumstances in which he 
lived. Both indeed were men of subtle, strong, and 
cultivated Intellect, fine "Imagination, and Hearts pas- 
sionate for Truth and Justice; who justly revolted from 
their Country's false Religion, and false, or foolish, 
Devotion to it ; but who fell short of replacing what 
they subverted by such better Hope as others, with no 
better Revelation to guide them had yet made a Law to 
themselves. Lucretius, indeed, with such material as 
Epicurus furnished, satisfied himself with the theory of 
a vast machine fortuitously constructed, and acting by 
a Law that implied no Legislator; and so composing 
himself into a Stoical rather than Epicurean severity of 
Attitude, sat down to contemplate the mechanical Drama 
of the Universe which he was part Actor in ; himself and 
all about him (as in his own sublime description of the 
Roman Theatre) discoloured with the lurid reflex of 
the Curtain suspended between the Spectator and the 
Sun. Omar, more desperate, or more careless of any 
so complicated System as resulted in nothing but hope- 
1 Professor Cowell. 



32 OMAR KHAYYAM 

less Necessity, flung his own Genius and Learning with 
a bitter or humorous jest into the general Ruin which 
their insufficient glimpses only served to reveal; and, 
pretending sensual pleasure as the serious purpose of 
Life, only diverted himself with speculative problems of 
Deity, Destiny, Matter and Spirit, Good and Evil, and 
other such questions, easier to start than to run down, 
and the pursuit of which becomes a very weary sport 
at last! 

With regard to the present Translation, The original 
Rubaiyat (as, missing an Arabic Guttural, these Tetra- 
stichs are more musically called) are independent Stanzas, 
consisting each of four Lines of equal, though varied, 
Prosody; sometimes all rhyming, but oftener (as here 
imitated) the third line a blank. Somewhat as in the 
Greek Alcaic, where the penultimate line seems to lift 
and suspend the Wave that falls over in the last. As 
usual with such kind of Oriental Verse, the Rubaiyat 
follow one another according to Alphabetic Rhyme — a 
strange succession of Grave and Gay. Those here se- 
lected are strung into something of an Eclogue, with 
perhaps a less than equal proportion of the "Drink and 
make-merry," which (genuine or not) recurs over-fre- 
quently in the Original. Either way, the Result is sad 
enough: saddest perhaps when most ostentatiously 
merry: more apt to move Sorrow than Anger toward 
the old Tentmaker, who, after vainly endeavouring to 
unshackle his Steps from Destiny, and to catch some 
authentic Glimpse of To-morrow, fell back upon To-day 
(which has outlasted so many To-morrows !) as the 



THE ASTRONOMER-POET OF PERSIA 33 

only Ground he had got to stand upon, however momen- 
tarily slipping from under his Feet. 



While the second Edition of this version of Omar 
was preparing, Monsieur Nicolas, French Consul at 
Resht, published a very careful and very good Edition 
of the Text, from a lithograph copy at Teheran, com- 
prising 464 Rubaiyat, with translation and notes of his 
own. 

Mons. Nicolas, whose Edition has reminded me of 
several things, and instructed me in others, does not 
consider Omar to be the material Epicurean that I have 
literally taken him for, but a Mystic, shadowing the 
Deity under the figure of Wine, Wine-bearer, &c, as 
Hafiz is supposed to do ; in short, a Sufi Poet like Hafiz 
and the rest. 

I cannot see reason to alter my opinion, formed as 
it was more than a dozen years ago x when Omar was 
first shown me by one to whom I am indebted for all 
I know of Oriental, and very much of other, literature. 
He admired Omar's Genius so much, that he would 
gladly have adopted any such Interpretation of his mean- 
ing as Mons. Nicolas' if he could. 2 That he could not, 
appears by his Paper in the Calcutta Review already 
so largely quoted; in which he argues from the Poems 
themselves, as well as from what records remain of the 
Poet's Life. 

1 Perhaps would have edited the Poems himself some years ago. 
He may now as little approve of my Version on one side, as of 
Mons. Nicolas' Theory on the other. 

[ 2 This was written in 1868. W. A. W.] 



34 OMAR KHAYYAM 

And if more were needed to disprove Mons. Nicolas' 
Theory, there is the Biographical Notice which he him- 
self has drawn up in direct contradiction to the Interpre- 
tation of the Poems given in his Notes. (See pp. xiii-xiv 
of his Preface.) Indeed I hardly knew poor Omar was 
so far gone till his Apologist informed me. For here 
we see that, whatever were the Wine that Hafiz drank 
and sang, the veritable Juice of the Grape it was which 
Omar used, not only when carousing with his friends, 
but (says Mons. Nicolas) in order to excite himself to 
that pitch of Devotion which others reached by cries and 
"hurlemens." And yet, whenever Wine, Wine-bearer, 
&c, occur in the text — which is often enough — Mons. 
Nicolas carefully annotates "Dieu," "La Divinite," &c. : 
so carefully indeed that one is tempted to think that he 
was indoctrinated by the Sufi with whom he read the 
Poems. (Note to Rub. ii. p. 8.) A Persian would 
naturally wish to vindicate a distinguished Countryman ; 
and a Sufi to enrol him in his own sect, which already 
comprises all the chief Poets of Persia. 

What historical Authority has Mons. Nicolas to show 
that Omar gave himself up "avec passion a l'etude de 
la philosophic des Soufis"? (Preface, p. xiii.) The 
Doctrines of Pantheism, Materialism, Necessity, &c, 
were not peculiar to the Sufi; nor to Lucretius before 
them; nor to Epicurus before him; probably the very 
original Irreligion of Thinking men from the first; and 
very likely to be the spontaneous growth of a Philoso- 
pher living in an Age of social and political barbarism, 
under shadow of one of the Two and Seventy Religions 






THE ASTRONOMER-POET OF PERSIA 35 

supposed to divide the world. Von Hammer (according 
to Sprenger's Oriental Catalogue) speaks of Omar as 
"a Free-thinker, and a great opponent of Sufism;" per- 
haps because, while holding much of their Doctrine, he 
would not pretend to any inconsistent severity of morals. 
Sir W. Ouseley has written a note to something of the 
same effect on the fly-leaf of the Bodleian MS. And 
in two Rubaiyat of Mons. Nicolas' own Edition Suf and 
Sufi are both disparagingly named. 

No doubt many of these Quatrains seem unaccountable 
unless mystically interpreted ; but many more as unac- 
countable unless literally. Were the Wine spiritual, for 
instance, how wash the Body with it when dead ! Why 
make cups of the dead clay to be filled with — "La Divi- 
nite" — by some succeeding Mystic ? Mons. Nicolas him- 
self is puzzled by some "bizarres" and "trop Orientales" 
allusions and images — "d'une sensualite quelquefois re- 
voltante" indeed — which "les convenances" do not per- 
mit him to translate; but still which the reader cannot 
but refer to "La Divinite." * No doubt also many of 
the Quatrains in the Teheran, as in the Calcutta, Copies, 

*A Note to Quatrain 234 admits that, however clear the mys- 
tical meaning of such Images must be to Europeans, they are not 
quoted without "rougissant" even by laymen in Persia — "Quant 
aux termes de tendresse qui commencent ce quatrain, comme tant 
d'autres dans ce recueil, nos lecteurs, habitues maintenant a 
l'etrangete des expressions si souvent employes par Kheyam pour 
rendre ses pensees sur l'amour divin, et a la singularity de ses 
images trop orientales, d'une sensualite quelquefois revoltante, 
n'auront pas de peine a se persuader qu'il s'agit de la Divinite, 
bien que cette conviction soit vivement discutee par les moullahs 
musulmans et meme par beaucoup de laiques, qui rougissent veri- 
tablement d'une pareille licence de leur compatriote a l'egard des 
choses spirituelles." 



36 OMAR KHAYYAM 

are spurious; such Rubdiydt being the comfhon form of 
Epigram in Persia. But this, at best, tells as much one 
way as another; nay, the Sufi, who may be considered 
the Scholar and Man of Letters in Persia, would be far 
more likely than the careless Epicure to interpolate what 
favours his own view of the Poet. I observe that very 
few of the more mystical Quatrains are in the Bodleian 
MS. which must be one of the oldest, as dated at Shiraz, 
a.h. 865, a.d. 1460. And this, I think, especially dis- 
tinguishes Omar (I cannot help calling him by his — no, 
not Christian — familiar name) from all other Persian 
Poets: That, whereas with them the Poet is lost in his 
Song, the Man in Allegory and Abstraction; we seem 
to have the Man — the Bonhomme — Omar himself, with 
all his Humours and Passions, as frankly before us as 
if we were really at Table with him, after the Wine 
had gone round. 

I must say that I, for one, never wholly believed in 
the Mysticism of Hafiz. It does not appear there was 
any danger in holding and singing Sufi Pantheism, so 
long as the Poet made his Salaam to Mohammed at the 
beginning and end of his Song. Under such conditions 
Jelaluddin, Jami, Attar, and others sang; using Wine 
and Beauty indeed as Images to illustrate, not as a Mask 
to hide, the Divinity they were celebrating. Perhaps 
some Allegory less liable to mistake or abuse had been 
better among so inflammable a People: much more so 
when, as some think with Hafiz and Omar, the abstract 
is not only likened to, but identified with, the sensual 



THE ASTRONOMER-POET OF PERSIA 37 

Image; hazardous, if not to the Devotee himself, yet to 
his weaker Brethren ; and worse for the Profane in pro- 
portion as the Devotion of the Initiated grew warmer. 
And all for what? To be tantalized with Images of 
sensual enjoyment which must be renounced if one would 
approximate a God, who according to the Doctrine, is 
Sensual Matter as well as Spirit, and into whose Uni- 
verse one expects unconsciously to merge after Death, 
without hope of any posthumous Beatitude in another 
world to compensate for all one's self-denial in this. 
Lucretius blind Divinity certainly merited, and probably 
got, as much self-sacrifice as this of the Sufi; and the 
burden of Omar's Song — if not "Let us eat" — is assur- 
edly — "Let us drink, for To-morrow we die!" And if 
Hafiz meant quite otherwise by a similar language, he 
surely miscalculated when he devoted his Life and Genius 
to so equivocal a Psalmody as, from his Day to this, has 
been said and sung by any rather than Spiritual Wor- 
shippers. 

However, as there is some traditional presumption, 
and certainly the opinion of some learned men, in favour 
of Omar's being a Sufi — and even something of a Saint 
— those who please may so interpret his Wine and Cup- 
bearer. On the other hand, as there is far more his- 
torical certainty of his being a Philosopher, of scientific 
Insight and Ability far beyond that of the Age and 
Country he lived in ; of such moderate worldly Ambition 
as becomes a Philosopher, and such moderate wants as 
rarely satisfy a Debauchee; other readers may be con- 



38 OMAR KHAYYAM 

tent to believe with me that, while the Wine Omar cele- 
brates is simply the Juice of the Grape, he bragged more 
than he drank of it, in very defiance perhaps of that 
Spiritual Wine which left its Votaries sunk in Hypocrisy 
or Disgust. 



RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 
OF NAISHAPUR 

FIRST EDITION 
1859 



Awake! for Morning in the Bowl of Night 

Has flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight : 

And Lo ! the Hunter of the East has caught 
The Sultan's Turret in a Noose of Light. 



II 



Dreaming when Dawn's Left Hand was in the Sky 
I heard a Voice within the Tavern cry, 

"Awake, my Little ones, and fill the Cup 
"Before Life's Liquor in its Cup be dry." 



Ill 



And, as the Cock crew, those who stood before 
The Tavern shouted — "Open then the Door! 

"You know how little while we have to stay, 
"And, once departed, may return no more." 
39 



40 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



IV 

Now the New Year reviving old Desires, 
The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires, 

Where the White Hand of Moses on the Bough 
Puts out, and Jesus from the Ground suspires. 



V 

Iram indeed is gone with all its Rose, 

And Jamshyd's Sev'n-ring'd Cup where no one knows ; 

But still the Vine her ancient Ruby yields, 
And still a Garden by the Water blows. 



VI 

And David's Lips are lock't ; but in divine 

High piping Pehlevi, with "Wine ! Wine ! Wine ! 

"Red Wine !" — the Nightingale cries to the Rose 
That yellow Cheek of her's to'incarnadine. 



VII / 



Come, fill the Cup, and in the Fire of Spring 
The Winter Garment of Repentance fling: 

The Bird of Time has but a little way 
To fly — and Lo ! the Bird is on the Wing. 



FIRST EDITION 41 



VIII 



And look — a thousand Blossoms with the Day 
Woke — and a thousand seatter'd into Clay: 

And this first Summer Month that brings the Rose 
Shall take Jamshyd and Kaikobad away. 



IX 



But come with old Khayyam, and leave the Lot 
Of Kaikobad and Kaikhosru forgot ! 

Let Rustum lay about him as he will, 
Or Hatim Tai cry Supper — heed them not. 



With me along some Strip of Herbage strown 
That just divides the desert from the sown, 

Where name of Slave and Sultan scarce is known, 
And pity Sultan Mahmud on his Throne. 



XI 



Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough, 
A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse— and Thou 

Beside me singing in the Wilderness — 
And Wilderness is Paradise enow. 



42 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



XII 



"How sweet is mortal Sovranty !" — think some : 
Others — "How blest the Paradise to come!" 

Ah, take the Cash in hand and wave the Rest; 
Oh, the brave Music of a distant Drum! 



XIII 

Look to the Rose that blows about us — "Lo, 
"Laughing," she says, "into the World I blow: 

"At once the silken Tassel of my Purse 
"Tear, and its Treasure on the Garden throw." 



XIV 

The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon 
Turns Ashes — or it prospers; and anon, 

Like Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face 
Lighting a little Hour or two — is gone. 



XV 

And those who husbanded the Golden Grain, 
And those who flung it to the Winds like Rain, 

Alike to no such aureate Earth are turn'd 
As, buried once, Men want dug up again. 



FIRST EDITION 43 



XVI 



Think, in this batter'd Caravanserai 

Whose Doorways are alternate Night and Day, 

How Sultan after Sultan with his Pomp 
Abode his Hour or two, and went his way. 



XVII 

They say the Lion and the Lizard keep 

The Courts where Jamshyd gloried and drank deep; 

And Bahram, that great Hunter — the Wild Ass 
Stamps o'er his Head, and he lies fast asleep. 



XVIII 

I sometimes think that never blows so red 
The Rose as where some buried Caesar bled; 
That every Hyacinth the Garden wears 
Dropt in its Lap from some once lovely Head. 



XIX 

And this delightful Herb whose tender Green 
Fledges the River's Lip on which we lean — 

Ah, lean upon it lightly ! for who knows 
From what once lovely Lip it springs unseen! 



44 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



XX 



V 



Ah, my Beloved, fill the Cup that clears 
To-day of past Regrets and future Fears — 
To-morrow? — Why, To-morrow I may be 
Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n Thousand Years. 



XXI 

Lo ! some we loved, the loveliest and best 
That Time and Fate of all their Vintage prest, 

Have drunk their Cup a Round or two before, 
And one by one crept silently to Rest. 



XXII 

And we, that now make merry in the Room 
They left, and Summer dresses in new Bloom, 

Ourselves must we beneath the Couch of Earth 
Descend, ourselves to make a Couch — for whom? 



XXIII 

Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend, 
Before we too into the Dust descend ; 

Dust into Dust, and under Dust, to lie, 
Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and — sans End! 



FIRST EDITION 45 



XXIV 



Alike for those who for To-day prepare, 
And those that after a To-morrow stare, 

A Muezzin from the Tower of Darkness cries 
"Fools ! your Reward is neither Here nor There !" 



XXV 

Why, all the Saints and Sages who discuss'd 
Of the Two Worlds so learnedly, are thrust 

Like foolish Prophets forth ; their Words to Scorn 
Are scatter'd, and their Mouths are stopt with Dust. 



XXVI 

Oh, come with old Khayyam, and leave the Wise 
To talk; one thing is certain, that Life flies; 
One thing is certain, and the Rest is Lies ; 
The Flower that once has blown for ever dies. 



XXVII 

Myself when young did eagerly frequent 
Doctor and Saint, and heard great Argument 

About it and about: but evermore 
Came out by the same Poor as in I went. 



46 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



XXVIII 

With them the Seed of Wisdom did I sow, 
And with my own hand labourd it to grow: 
And this was all the Harvest that I reap'd— 
"I came like Water, and like Wind I go." 



XXIX 

Into this Universe, and why not knowing, 
Nor whence, like Water willy-nilly flowing: 
And out of it, as Wind along the Waste, 
I know not whither, willy-nilly blowing. 



XXX 

What, without asking, hither hurried whence? 
And, without asking, whither hurried hence! 

Another and another Cup to drown 
The Memory of this Impertinence ! 



XXXI 

Up from Earth's Centre through the Seventh Gate 
I rose, and on the Throne of Saturn sate, 

And many Knots unravel'd by the Road; 
But not the Knot of Human Death and Fate. 



FIRST EDITION 47 



XXXII 



There was a Door to which I found no Key: 
There was a Veil past which I could not see: 

Some little Talk awhile of Me and Thee 
There seem'd — and then no more of Thee and Me. 



XXXIII 

Then to the rolling Heav'n itself I cried, 
Asking, "What Lamp had Destiny to guide 

"Her little Children stumbling in the Dark?" 
And — "A blind Understanding!" Heav'n replied. 



XXXIV 

Then to this earthen Bowl did I adjourn 
My Lip the secret Well of Life to learn : 

And Lip to Lip it murmur'd — "While you live 
"Drink! — for once dead you never shall return." 



XXXV 

I think the Vessel, that with fugitive 
Articulation answer'd, once did live, 

And merry-make ; and the cold Lip I kiss'd 
How many Kisses might it take — and give! 



48 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



XXXVI 

For in the Market-place, one Dusk of Day, 
I watch'd the Potter thumping his wet Gay: 

And with its all obliterated Tongue 
It murmur'd — "Gently, Brother, gently, pray!" 



XXXVII 

Ah, fill the Cup: — what boots it to repeat 
How Time is slipping underneath our Feet: 

Unborn To-morrow, and dead Yesterday, 
Why fret about them if To-day be sweet! 



v x 



XXXVIII 

One Moment in Annihilation's Waste, 
One Moment, of the Well of Life to taste — 

The Stars are setting and the Caravan 
Starts for the Dawn of Nothing — Oh, make haste! 



XXXIX 

How long, how long, in infinite Pursuit 
Of This and That endeavour and dispute ? 
Better be merry with the fruitful Grape 
Than sadden after none, or bitter, Fruit. 



FIRST EDITION 49 



XL 



You know, my Friends, how long since in my House 
For a new Marriage I did make Carouse : 

Divorced old barren Reason from my Bed, 
And took the Daughter of the Vine to Spouse. 



XLI 

For "Is" and "Is-not" though with Rule and Line, 
And "Up-and-down" Without, I could define, 

I yet in all I only cared to know, 
Was never deep in anything but — Wine. 



XLII 

And lately, by the Tavern Door agape, 

Came stealing through the Dusk an Angel Shape 

Bearing a Vessel on his Shoulder; and 
He bid me taste of it ; and 'twas — the Grape ! 



XLIII 

The Grape that can with Logic absolute 
The Two-and-Seventy jarring Sects confute: 

The subtle Alchemist that in a Trice 
Life's leaden Metal into Gold transmute. 



50 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



XLIV 

The mighty Mahmud, the victorious Lord, 
That all the misbelieving and black Horde 

Of Fears and Sorrows that infest the Soul 
Scatters and slays with his enchanted Sword. 



XLV 

But leave the Wise to wrangle, and with me 
The Quarrel of the Universe let be : 

And, in some corner of the Hubbub coucht, 
Make Game of that which makes as much of Thee. 



XLVI 

For in and out, above, about, below, 
'Tis nothing but a Magic Shadow-show, 

Play'd in a Box whose Candle is the Sun, 
Round which we Phantom Figures come and go. 



XLVII 

And if the Wine you drink, the Lip you press, 
End in the Nothing all Things end in — Yes — 
Then fancy while Thou art, Thou art but what 
Thou shalt be — Nothing — thou shalt not be less. 



FIRST EDITION 51 



XLVIII 

While the Rose blows along the River Brink, 
With old Khayyam the Ruby Vintage drink : 

And when the Angel with his darker Draught 
Draws up to Thee — take that, and do not shrink. 



XLIX 

'Tis all a Chequer-board of Nights and Days 
Where Destiny with Men for Pieces plays : 

Hither and thither moves, and mates, and slays, 
And one by one back in the Qoset lays. 



The Ball no Question makes of Ayes and Noes, 
But Right or Left, as strikes the Player goes ; 

And He that toss'd Thee down into the Field, 
He knows about it all — He knows — HE knows ! 



LI 

; 
The Moving Finger writes ; and, having writ, 

Moves on : nor all thy Piety nor Wit 

Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, 

Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it. 



52 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



LII 



And that inverted Bowl we call The Sky, 
,Whereunder crawling coop't we live and die, 
Lift not thy hands to It for help — for it 
Rolls impotently on as Thou or I. 



LIII 

With Earth's first Clay They did the Last Man's knead, 
And then of the Last Harvest sow'd the Seed: 

Yea, the first Morning of Creation wrote 
What the Last Dawn of Reckoning shall read. 



LIV 

I tell Thee this — When, starting from the Goal, 
Over the shoulders of the flaming Foal 

Of Heav'n Parwin and Mushtara they flung, 
In my predestin'd Plot of Dust and Soul 



LV 



The Vine had struck a Fibre; which about 
If clings my Being — let the Sufi flout ; 

Of my Base Metal may be filed a Key, 
That shall unlock the Door he howls without. 



FIRST EDITION 53 



LVI 



And this I know : whether the one True Light, 
Kindle to Love, or Wrathconsume me quite, 

One Glimpse of It within the Tavern caught 
Better than in the Temple lost outright. 

LVII 

Oh, Thou, who didst with Pitfall and with Gin 
Beset the Road I was to wander in, 

Thou wilt not with Predestination round 
Enmesh me, and impute my Fall to Sin? 

LVIII 

Oh, Thou, who Man of baser Earth didst make, 
And who with Eden didst devise the Snake; 
For all the Sin wherewith the Face of Man 
Is blacken'd, Man's Forgiveness give — and take! 



KUZA-NAMA. 
LIX 



Listen again. One Evening at the Qose 
Of Ramazan, ere the better Moon arose, 
In that old Potter's Shop I stood alone 
With the clay Population round in Rows. 



54 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



LX 



And, strange to tell, among that Earthen Lot 
Some could articulate, while others not : 

And suddenly one more impatient cried — 
"Who is the Potter, pray, and who the Pot ?" 



LXI 

Then said another — "Surely not in vain 

"My Substance from the common Earth was ta'en, 

"That He who subtly wrought me into Shape 
"Should stamp me back to common Earth again." 



LXII 

Another said — "Why, ne'er a peevish Boy, 

"Would break the Bowl from which he drank in Joy ; / 

"Shall He that made the Vessel in pure Love 
"And Fansy, in an after Rage destroy!" 



LXIII 

None answer'd this; but after Silence spake 
A Vessel of a more ungainly Make : 

"They sneer at me for leaning all awry; 
"What ! did the Hand then of the Potter shake !" 



FIRST EDITION 55 



LXIV 



Said one — "Folks of a surly Tapster tell, 

"And daub his Visage with the Smoke of Hell; 

"They talk of some strict Testing of us — Pish! 
"He's a Good Fellow, and 'twill all be well." 

LXV 

Then said another with a long-drawn Sigh, 
"My Clay with long oblivion is gone dry: 

"But, fill me with the old familiar Juice, 
"Methinks I might recover by-and-bye !" 



LXVI 

So while the Vessels one by one were speaking, 
One spied the little Crescent all were seeking: 

And then they jogg'd each other, "Brother ! Brother ! 
"Hark to the Porter's Shoulder-knot a-creaking!" 



LXVII 

Ah, with the Grape my fading Life provide, 
And wash my Body whence the Life has died, 
And in a Windingsheet of Vine-leaf wrapt, 
So bury me by some sweet Garden-side. 



56 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



LXVIII 

That ev'n my buried Ashes such a Snare 
Of Perfume shall fling up into the Air, 

As not a True Believer passing by 
But shall be overtaken unaware. 



LXIX 

Indeed the Idols I have loved so long 
Have done my Credit in Men's Eye much wrong: 
Have drown'd my Honour in a shallow Cup, 
And sold my Reputation for a Song. 



LXX 

Indeed, indeed, Repentance oft before 
I swore — but was I sober when I swore? 

And then and then came Spring, and Rose-in-hand 
My thread-bare Penitence apieces tore. 



LXXI 

And much as Wine has play'd the Infidel, 
And robb'd me of my Robe of Honour — well, 

I often wonder what the Vintners buy 
One half so precious as the Goods they sell. 



FIRST EDITION 57 



LXXII 



Alas, that Spring should vanish with the Rose ! 
That Youth's sweet-scented Manuscript should close ! 

The Nightingale that in the Branches sang, 
Ah, whence, and whither flown again, who knows ! 

LXXIII 

Ah Love ! could thou and I with Fate conspire 
To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire, 

Would not we shatter it to bits — and then 
Re-mould it nearer to the Heart's Desire ! 

LXXIV 

Ah, Moon of my Delight who know'st no wane, 
The Moon of Heav'n is rising once again : 
How oft hereafter rising shall she look 
Through this same Garden after me — in vain ! 

LXXV 

And when Thyself with shining Foot shall pass 
Among the Guests Star-scatter'd on the Grass, 

And in thy joyous Errand reach the Spot 
Where I made one — turn down an empty Glass! 

TAMAM SHUD. 



RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 
OF NAISHAPUR 

SECOND EDITION 

1868 



Wake ! For the Sun behind yon Eastern height 
Has chased the Session of the Stars from Night, 

And, to the field of Heav'n ascending, strikes 
The Sultan's Turret with a Shaft of Light. 



II 



Before the phantom of False morning died, 
Methought a Voice within the Tavern cried, 
"When all the Temple is prepared within, 
"Why lags the drowsy Worshipper outside?" 

Ill 

And, as the Cock crew, those who stood before 
The Tavern shouted — "Open then the Door! 

"You know how little while we have to stay, 
"And, once departed, may return no more." 

59 



60 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



IV 

Now the New Year reviving old Desires, 
The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires, 

Where the White Hand of Moses on the Bough 
Puts out, and Jesus from the Ground suspires. 



V 

Iram indeed is gone with all his Rose, 

And Jamshyd's Sev'n-ring'd Cup where no one knows; 

But still a Ruby gushes from the Vine, 
And many a Garden by the Water blows. 



VI 

And David's lips are lockt; but in divine 
High-piping Pehlevi, with "Wine ! Wine ! Wine ! 

"Red Wine !" — the Nightingale cries to the Rose 
That sallow cheek of her's to incarnadine. 



VII 

Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring 
Your Winter-garment of Repentance fling: 

The Bird of Time has but a little way 
To flutter — and the Bird is on the Wing. 



SECOND EDITION 61 



VIII 



Whether at Naishapur or Babylon, 
Whether the Cup with sweet or bitter run, 

The Wine of Life keeps oozing drop by drop, 
The Leaves of Life keep falling one by one. 



IX 



Morning a thousand Roses brings, you say; 
Yes, but where leaves the Rose of yesterday? 

And this first Summer month that brings the Rose 
Shall take Jamshyd and Kaikobad away. 



X 



Well, let it take them ! What have we to do 
With Kaikobad the Great, or Kaikhosru? 

Let Rustum cry "To Battle !" as he likes, 
Or Hatim Tai "To Supper !" — heed not you. 



XI 



With me along the strip of Herbage strown 
That just divides the desert from the sown, 

Where name of Slave and Sultan is forgot — 
And Peace to Mahmud on his golden Throne! 



62 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



XII 



Here with a little Bread beneath the Bough, 
A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse — and Thou 

Beside me singing in the Wilderness — 
Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow ! 



XIII 

Some for the Glories of This World; and some 
Sigh for the Prophet's Paradise to come; 

Ah, take the Cash, and let the Promise go, 
Nor heed the music of a distant Drum ! 



XIV 

Were it not Folly, Spider-like to spin 
The Thread of present Life away to win 

What ? for ourselves, who know not if we shall 
Breathe out the very Breath we now breathe in ! 



XV 



Look to the blowing Rose about us — "Lo, 
"Laughing," she says, "into the world I blow: 

"At once the silken tassel of my Purse 
"Tear, and its Treasure on the Garden throw." 



SECOND EDITION 63 



XVI 



For those who husbanded the Golden grain, 
And those who flung it to the winds like Rain, 

Alike to no such aureate Earth are turn'd 
As, buried once, Men want dug up again. 



XVII 

The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon 
Turns Ashes — or it prospers; and anon, 

Like Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face, 
Lighting a little hour or two — was gone. 



XVIII 

Think, in this batter'd Caravanserai 
Whose Portals are alternate Night and Day, 

How Sultan after Sultan with his Pomp 
Abode his destin'd Hour, and went his way. 



XIX 

They say the Lion and the Lizard keep 

The Courts where Jamshyd gloried and drank deep 

And Bahram, that great Hunter — the Wild Ass 
Stamps o'er his Head, but cannot break his Sleep. 



64 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



XX 



The Palace that to Heav'n his pillars threw, 
And Kings the forehead on his threshold drew — 

I saw the solitary Ringdove there, 
And "Coo, coo, coo," she cried ; and "Coo, coo, coo.' 



XXI 

Ah, my Beloved, fill the Cup that clears 
To-day of past Regrets and future Fears: 

To-morrow ! — Why, To-morrow I may be 
Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n thousand Years. 



XXII 

For some we loved, the loveliest and the best 
That from his Vintage rolling Time has prest, 
Have drunk their Cup a Round or two before, 
And one by one crept silently to rest. 



XXIII 

And we, that now make merry in the Room 
They left, and Summer dresses in new Bloom, 

Ourselves must we beneath the Couch of Earth 
Descend, ourselves to make a Couch — for whom? 



SECOND EDITION 65 



XXIV 



I sometimes think that never blows so red 
The Rose as where some buried Caesar bled; 

That every Hyacinth the Garden wears 
Dropt in her Lap from some once lovely Head. 



XXV 

And this delightful Herb whose living Green 
Fledges the River's Lip on which we lean — 
Ah, lean upon it lightly! for who knows 
From what once lovely Lip it springs unseen! 



XXVI 

Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend, 
Before we too into the Dust descend ; 

Dust into Dust, and under Dust, to lie, 
Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and — sans End ! 



XXVII 

Alike for those who for To-day prepare, 
And those that after some To-morrow stare, 

A Muezzin from the Tower of Darkness cries, 
"Fools ! your Reward is neither Here nor There !" 



66 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



XXVIII 

Another Voice, when I am sleeping, cries, 

"The Flower should open with the Morning skies." 

And a retreating Whisper, as I wake — 
"The Flower that once has blown for ever dies." 



XXIX 

Why, all the Saints and Sages who discuss'd 
Of the Two Worlds so learnedly, are thrust 

Like foolish Prophets forth ; their Words to Scorn 
Are scatter'd, and their Mouths are stopt with Dust. 



XXX 

Myself when young did eagerly frequent 
Doctor and Saint, and heard great argument 

About it and about: but evermore 
Came out by the same door as in I went. 



XXXI 

With them the seed of Wisdom did I sow, 
And with my own hand wrought to make it grow : 
And this was all the Harvest that I reap'd — 
"I came like Water, and like Wind. I go." 



SECOND EDITION 67 



XXXII 



Into this Universe, and Why not knowing, 
Nor Whence, like Water willy-nilly flowing: 
And out of it, as Wind along the Waste, 
I know not Whither, willy-nilly blowing. 



XXXIII 

What, without asking, hither hurried Whence? 
And, without asking, Whither hurried hence ! 

Ah, contrite Heav'n endowed us with the Vine 
To drug the memory of that insolence ! 



XXXIV 

Up from Earth's Centre through the Seventh Gate 
I rose, and on the Throne of Saturn sate, 

And many Knots unravel'd by the Road; 
But not the Master-Knot of Human Fate. 



XXXV 

There was the Door to which I found no Key: 
There was the Veil through which I could not see : 

Some little talk awhile of Me and Thee 
There was — and then no more of Thee and Me. 



68 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



XXXVI 

Earth could not answer ; nor the Seas that mourn 
In flowing Purple, of their Lord forlorn; 

Nor Heav'n, with those eternal Signs reveal'd 
And hidden by the sleeve of Night and Morn. 



XXXVII 

Then of the Thee in Me who works behind 
The Veil of Universe I cried to find 

A Lamp to guide me through the Darkness; and 
Something then said — "An Understanding blind." 



XXXVIII 

Then to the Lip of this poor earthen Urn 
I lean'd, the secret Well of Life to learn : 

And Lip to Lip it murmur'd — "While you live, 
"Drink! — for, once dead, you never shall return.' 



XXXIX 

I think the Vessel, that with fugitive 
Articulation answer'd, once did live, 

And drink; and that impassive Lip I kiss'd, 
How many Kisses might it take — and give ! 



SECOND EDITION 69 



XL 



For I remember stopping by the way 

To watch a Potter thumping his wet Clay: 

And with its all-obliterated Tongue 
It murmur'd — "Gently, Brother, gently, pray!' 



XLI 

For has not such a Story from of Old 
Down Man's successive generations roll'd 

Of such a clod of saturated Earth 
Cast by the Maker into Human mould ? 



XLII 

And not a drop that from our Cups we throw 
On the parcht herbage but may steal below 

To quench the fire of Anguish in some Eye 
There hidden — far beneath, and long ago. 



XLIII 

As then the Tulip for her wonted sup 

Of Heavenly Vintage lifts her chalice up, 

Do you, twin offspring of the soil, till Heav'n 
To Earth invert you like an empty Cup. 



70 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



XLIV 

Do you, within your little hour of Grace, 
The waving Cypress in your Arms enlace, 

Before the Mother back into her arms 
Fold, and dissolve you in a last embrace. 



XLV 

And if the Cup you drink, the Lip you press, 
End in what All begins and ends in — Yes; 

Imagine then you are what heretofore 
You were — hereafter you shall not be less. 



XLVI 

So when at last the Angel of the drink 
Of Darkness finds you by the river-brink, 

And, proffering his Cup, invites your Soul 
Forth to your Lips to quaff it — do not shrink. 



XLVII 

And fear not lest Existence closing your 
Account, should lose, or know the type no more; 

The Eternal Saki from that Bowl has pour'd 
Millions of Bubbles like us, and will pour. 



SECOND EDITION 71 



XLVIII 



When You and I behind the Veil are past, 

Oh but the long long while the World shall last, 

Which of our Coming and Departure heeds 
As much as Ocean of a pebble-cast. 



XLIX 

One Moment in Annihilation's Waste, 
One Moment, of the Well of Life to tas'e — 

The Stars are setting, and the Caravan 
Draws to the Dawn of Nothing — Oh make haste! 



Would you that spangle of Existence spend 
About the secret — quick about it, Friend! 

A Hair, they say, divides the False and Tru 
And upon what, prithee, does Life depend ? 



LI 



A Hair, they say, divides the False and True; 
Yes ; and a single Alif were the clue, 

Could you but find it, to the Treasure-house, 
And peradventure to The Master too; 



72 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



LII 

Whose secret Presence, through Creation's veins 
Running, Quicksilver-like eludes your pains: 
Taking all shapes from Mah to Mahi ; and 
They change and perish all — but He remains; 



LIU 

A moment guess'd — then back behind the Fold 
Immerst of Darkness round the Drama roll'd 

Which, for the Pastime of Eternity, 
He does Himself contrive, enact, behold. 



LIV 

But if in vain, down on the stubborn floor 

Of Earth, and up to Heav'n's unopening Door, 

You gaze To-day, while You are You — how then 
To-morrow, You when shall be You no more? 



LV 

Oh, plagued no more with Human or Divine, 
To-morrow's tangle to itself resign, 

And lose your ringers in the tresses of 
The Cypress-slender Minister of Wine. 



SECOND EDITION 73 



LVI 



Waste not your Hour, nor in the vain pursuit 
Of This and That endeavour and dispute; 
Better be merry with the fruitful Grape 
Than sadden after none, or bitter, Fruit. 



LVII 

You know, my Friends, how bravely in my House 
For a new Marriage I did make Carouse : 

Divorced old barren Reason from my Bed, 
And took the Daughter of the Vine to Spouse. 



LVIII 

For "Is" and "Is-not" though with Rule and Line, 
And "Up-and-down" by Logic I define, 

Of all that one should care to fathom, I 
Was never deep in anything but — Wine. 



LIX 

Ah, but my Computations, People say, 

Have squared the Year to human compass, eh ? 

If so, by striking from the Calendar 
Unborn To-morrow and dead Yesterday. 



74 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



LX 



And lately, by the Tavern Door agape, 

Came shining through the Dusk an Angel Shape 

Bearing a Vessel on his Shoulder; and 
He bid me taste of it ; and 'twas— the Grape ! 



LXI 

The Grape that can with Logic absolute 
The Two-and-Seventy jarring Sects confute 

The sovereign Alchemist that in a trice 
Life's leaden metal into Gold transmute : 



LXII 

The mighty Mahmud, Allah-breathing Lord, 
That all the misbelieving and black Horde 

Of Fears and Sorrows that infest the Soul 
Scatters before him with his whirlwind Sword. 



LXIII 

Why, be this Juice the growth of God, who dare 
Blaspheme the twisted tendril as a Snare? 

A Blessing, we should use it, should we not? 
And if a Curse— why, then, Who set it there? 



SECOND EDITION 75 



LXIV 



I must abjure the Balm of Life, I must, 
Scared by some After-reckoning ta'en on trust, 
Or lured with Hope of some Diviner Drink, 
When the frail Cup is crumbled into Dust! 



LXV 

If but the Vine and Love-abjuring Band 
Are in the Prophet's Paradise to stand, 
Alack, I doubt the Prophet's Paradise 
Were empty as the hollow of one's Hand. 



LXVI 

Oh threats of Hell and Hopes of Paradise! 
One thing at least is certain — This Life flies 

One thing is certain and the rest is lies ; 
The Flower that once is blown for ever dies. 



LXVII 

Strange, is it not? that of the myriads who 
Before us pass'd the door of Darkness through 

Not one returns to tell us of the Road, 
Which to discover we must travel too. 



76 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



LXVIII 

The Revelations of Devout and Learn'd 
Who rose before us, and as Prophets burn'd, 

Are all but Stories, which, awoke from Sleep 
They told their fellows, and to Sleep return'd. 



LXIX 

Why, if the Soul can fling the Dust aside, 
And naked on the Air of Heaven ride, 

Is't not a shame — is't not a shame for him 
So long in this Clay suburb to abide? 



LXX 

But that is but a Tent wherein may rest 
A sultan to the realm of Death addrest; 
The Sultan rises, and the dark Ferrash 
Strikes, and prepares it for another guest. 



LXXI 

I sent my Soul through the Invisible, 
Some letter of that After-life to spell: 

And after many days my Soul return'd 
And said, "Behold, Myself am Heav'n and Hell :" 



SECOND EDITION 77 



LXXII 



Heav'n but the Vision of fulfiU'd Desire, 
And Hell the Shadow of a Soul on fire, 

Cast on the Darkness into which Ourselves, 
So late emerg'd from, shall so soon expire. 



LXXIII 

We are no other than a moving row 
Of visionary Shapes that come and go 

Round with this Sun-illumin'd Lantern held 
In Midnight by the Master of the Show ; 



LXXIV 

Impotent Pieces of the Game He plays 
Upon this Chequer-board of Nights and Days; 

Hither and thither moves, and checks, and slays; 
And one by one back in the Qoset lays. 



LXXV 

The Ball no Question makes of Ayes and Noes, 
But Right or Left as strikes the Player goes ; 

And He that toss'd you down into the Field, 
He knows about it all — he knows — HE knows! 



78 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



LXXVI 

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, 
Moves on : nor all your Piety nor Wit 

Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, 
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it. 



LXXVII 

For let Philosopher and Doctor preach 

Of what they will, and what they will not — each 

Is but one Link in an eternal Chain 
That none can slip, nor break, nor over-reach. 



LXXVIII 

And that inverted Bowl we call The Sky, 
Whereunder crawling coop'd we live and die, 

Lift not your hands to It for help — for It 
As impotently rolls as you or I. 



LXXIX 

With Earth's first Clay They did the Last Man knead, 
And there of the Last Harvest sow'd the Seed ; 

And the first Morning of Creation wrote 
What the Last Dawn of Reckoning shall read. 



SECOND EDITION 79 



LXXX 



Yesterday This Day's Madness did prepare ; 
To-morrow's Silence, Triumph, or Despair: 

Drink ! for you know not whence you came, nor why : 
Drink ! for you know not why you go, nor where. 



LXXXI 

I tell you this — when, started from the Goal, 
Over the flaming shoulders of the Foal 

Of Heav'n Parwin and Mushtari they flung, 
In my predestin'd Plot of Dust and Soul. 



LXXXII 

The Vine had struck a fibre: which about 
If clings my Being — let the Dervish flout; 
Of my Base metal may be filed a Key, 
That shall unlock the Door he howls without. 



LXXXIII 

And this I know : whether the one True Light, 
Kindle to Love, or Wrath-consume me quite, 
One Flash of It within the Tavern caught 
Better than in the Temple lost outright. 



80 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



LXXXIV 

What! out of senseless Nothing to provoke 
A conscious Something to resent the yoke 

Of unpermitted Pleasure, under pain 
Of Everlasting Penalties, if broke! 



LXXXV 

What! from his helpless Creature be repaid 
Pure Gold for what he lent us dross-allay'd- 

Sue for a Debt we never did contract, 
And cannot answer — Oh the sorry trade! 



LXXXVI 

Nay, but, for terror of his wrathful Face, 
I swear I will not call Injustice Grace; 

Not one Good Fellow of the Tavern but 
Would kick so poor a Coward from the place. 



LXXXVII 

Oh Thou, who didst with pitfall and with gin 
Beset the Road I was to wander in, 

Thou wilt not with Predestin'd Evil round 
Enmesh, and then impute my Fall to Sin? 



SECOND EDITION 81 



LXXXVIII 



Oh Thou, who Man of baser Earth didst make, 
And ev'n with Paradise devise the Snake: 

For all the Sin the Face of wretched Man 
Is black with — Man's Forgiveness give — and take! 



LXXXIX 

As under cover of departing Day 
Slunk hunger-stricken Ramazan away, 

Once more within the Potter's house alone 
I stood, surrounded by the Shapes of Clay. 

XC 

And once again there gather'd a scarce heard 
Whisper among them; as it were, the stirr'd 
Ashes of some all but extinguisht Tongue, 
Which mine ear kindled into living Word. 

XCI 

Said one among them — " Surely not in vain, 

"My Substance from the common Earth was ta'en, 

"That He who subtly wrought me into Shape 
"Should stamp me back to shapeless Earth again?" 



82 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



XCII 

Another said, "Why, ne'er a peevish Boy 

"Would break the Cup from which he drank in Joy; 

"Shall He that of his own free Fancy made 
"The Vessel, in an after-rage destroy!" 



XCIII 

None answer'd this; but after silence spake 
Some Vessel of a more ungainly Make; 

"They sneer at me for leaning all awry; 
"What! did the Hand then of the Potter shake?" 



XCIV 

Thus with the Dead as with the Living, What? 
And Why? so ready, but the Where for not, 

One on a sudden peevishly exclaim'd,, 
"Which is the 'Potter, pray, and which the Pot?" 



XCV 

Said one — "Folks of a surly Master tell, 

"And daub his Visage with the Smoke of Hell ; 

"They talk of some sharp Trial of us — Pish! 
"He's a good Fellow, and 'twill all be well." 



SECOND EDITION 83 



XCVI 



"Well," said another, "Whoso will, let try, 
"My Clay with long Oblivion is gone dry: 
"But, fill me with the old familiar Juice, 
"Methinks I might recover by-and-bye." 

XCVII 

So while the Vessels one by one were speaking, 
One spied the little Crescent all were seeking: 

And then they jogg'd each other, "Brother ! Brother ! 
"Now for the Porter's shoulder-knot a-creaking !" 



XCVIII 

Ah, with the Grape my fading Life provide, 
And wash my Body whence the Life has died, 

And lay me, shrouded in the living Leaf, 
By some not unfrequented Garden-side. 

XCIX 

Whither resorting from the vernal Heat 
Shall Old Acquaintance Old Acquaintance greet, 
Under the Branch that leans above the Wall 
To shed his Blossom over head and feet. 



84 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



Then ev'n my buried Ashes such a snare 
Of Vintage shall fling up into the Air, 

As not a True-believer passing by 
But shall be overtaken unaware. 



CI 

Indeed the Idols I have loved so long 

Have done my credit in Men's eye much wrong: 

Have drown'd my Glory in a shallow Cup, 
And sold my Reputation for a Song. 



CII 

Indeed, indeed, Repentance oft before 
I swore — but was I sober when I swore? 

And then and then came Spring, and Rose-in-hand 
My thread-bare Penitence apieces tore. 



cm 

And much as Wine has play'd the Infidel, 

And robb'd me of my Robe of Honour — Well, 

I often wonder what the Vintners buy 
One half so precious as the ware they sell. 



SECOND EDITION 85 



CIV 



Yet Ah, that Spring should vanish with the Rose! 
That Youth's sweet-scented manuscript should close! 

The Nightingale that in the branches sang, 
Ah whence, and whither flown again, who knows! 



CV 

Would but the Desert of the Fountain yield 
One glimpse — if dimly, yet indeed, reveal'd, 

Toward which the fainting Traveller might spring, 
As springs the trampled herbage of the field! 



CVI 

Oh if the World were but to re-create, 

That we might catch ere closed the Book of Fate, 

And make The Writer on a fairer leaf 
Inscribe our names, or quite obliterate! 



CVII 

Better, oh better, cancel from the Scroll 
Of Universe one luckless Human Soul, 

Than drop by drop enlarge the Flood that rolls 
Hoarser with Anguish as the Ages roll. 



86 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



CVIII 

Ah Love ! could you and I with Fate conspire 
To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire, 
Would not we shatter it to bits — and then 
Re-mould it nearer to the Heart's Desire! 



CIX 

But see ! The rising Moon of Heav'n again 

Looks for us, Sweet-heart, through the quivering Plane 

How oft hereafter rising will she look 
Among those leaves — for one of us in vain ! 



CX 

And when Yourself with silver Foot shall pass 
Among the Guests Star-scatter'd on the Grass, 

And in your joyous errand reach the spot 
Where I made One — turn down an empty Glass ! 

TAMAM 



RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 
OF NAISHAPUR 

THIRD EDITION 
1872* 



Wake! For the Sun who scatter'd into flight 
The Stars before him from the Field of Night, 

Drives Night along with them from Heav'n, and strikes 
The Sultan's Turret with a Shaft of Light. 

II 

Before the phantom of False morning died, 
Methought a Voice within the Tavern cried, 
"When all the Temple is prepared within, 
"Why nods the drowsy Worshipper outside?" 

Ill 

And, as the Cock crew, those who stood before 
The Tavern shouted — "Open then the Door! 

"You know how little while we have to stay, 
"And, once departed, may return no more." 

* See p. 149 for Variants in Fitzgerald's "first draught" of 
Third Edition. 

87 



RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



IV 

Now the New Year reviving old Desires, 
The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires, 

Where the White Hand of Moses on the Bough 
Puts out, and Jesus from the Ground suspires. 



V 

Iram indeed is gone with all his Rose, 

And Jamshyd's Sev'n-ring'd Cup where no one knows; 

But still a Ruby gushes from the Vine, 
And many a Garden by the Water blows. 



VI 

And David's lips are lockt; but in divine 
High-piping Pehlevi, with "Wine ! Wine ! Wine ! 

"Red Wine !" — the Nightingale cries to the Rose 
That sallow cheek of her's to' incarnadine 



VII 

Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring 
Your Winter-garment of Repentance fling: 

The Bird of Time has but a little way 
To flutter — and the Bird is on the Wing. 



THIRD EDITION 



VIII 



Whether at Naishapur or Babylon, 
Whether the Cup with sweet or bitter run, 

The Wine of Life keeps oozing drop by drop, 
The Leaves of Life keep falling one by one. 



IX 

Each Morn a thousand Roses brings, you say: 
Yes, but where leaves the Rose of Yesterday? 

And this first Summer month that brings the Rose 
Shall take Jamshyd and Kaikobad away. 



Well, let it take them! What have we to do 
With Kaikobad the Great, or Kaikhosru? 

Let Zal and Rustum thunder as they will, 
Or Hatim call to Supper — heed not you. 



XI 



With me along the strip of Herbage strown 
That just divides the desert from the sown, 

Where name of Slave and Sultan is forgot — 
And Peace to Mahmud on his golden Throne! 



90 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



XII 

A Book of Verses underneath the Bough, 
A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread — and Thou 

Beside me singing in the Wilderness — 
Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow ! 



XIII 

Some for the Glories of This World; and some 
Sigh for the Prophet's Paradise to come ; 

Ah, take the Cash, and let the Credit go, 
Nor heed the rumble of a distant Drum! 



XIV 

Look to the blowing Rose about us — Lo, 
"Laughing," she says, "into the world I blow, 

"At once the silken tassel of my Purse 
"Tear, and its Treasure on the Garden throw." 



XV 

And those who husbanded the Golden grain, 
And those who flung it to the winds like Rain, 

Alike to no such aureate Earth are turn'd 
As, buried once, Men want dug up again. 



THIRD EDITION 91, 



XVI 



The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon 
Turns Ashes — or it prospers ; and anon, 

Like Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face, 
Lighting a little hour or two — was gone. 



XVII 

Think, in this batter'd Caravanserai 

Whose Portals are alternate Night and Day, 

How Sultan after Sultan with his Pomp 
Abode his destin'd Hour, and went his way. 



XVIII 

They say the Lion and the Lizard keep 

The Courts where Jamshyd gloried and drank deep 

And Bahram, that great Hunter — the Wild Ass 
Stamps o'er his Head, but cannot break his Sleep. 



XIX 

I sometimes think that never blows so red 
The Rose as where some buried Caesar bled; 

That every Hyacinth the Garden wears 
Dropt in her Lap from some once lovely Head. 



92 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



XX 



And this reviving Herb whose tender Green 
Fledges the River-Lip on which we lean — 
Ah, lean upon it lightly ! for who knows 
From what once lovely Lip it springs unseen! 



XXI 

Ah, my Beloved, fill the Cup that clears 
To-day of past Regret and future Fears : 

To-morrow! — Why, To-morrow I may be 
Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n thousand Years. 



XXII 

For some we loved, the loveliest and the best 
That from his Vintage rolling Time has prest, 

Have drunk their Cup a Round or two before, 
And one by one crept silently to rest. 



XXIII 

And we, that now make merry in the Room 
They left, and Summer dresses in new bloom, 

Ourselves must we beneath the Couch of Earth 
Descend — ourselves to make a Couch — for whom? 



THIRD EDITION 93 



XXIV 



Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend, 
Before we too into the Dust descend; 

Dust into Dust, and under Dust, to lie, 
Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and — sans End! 



XXV 

Alike for those who for To-day prepare, 
And those that after some To-morrow stare, 

A Muezzin from the Tower of Darkness cries, 
"Fools ! your Reward is neither Here nor There." 



XXVI 

Why, all the Saints and Sages who discuss'd 
Of the Two Worlds so learnedly, are thrust 

Like foolish Prophets forth ; their Words to Scorn 
Are scatter'd, and their Mouths are stopt with Dust. 



XXVII 

Myself when young did eagerly frequent 
Doctor and Saint, and heard great argument 

About it and about : but evermore 
Came out by the same door where in I went. 



94 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



XXVIII 

With them the seed of Wisdom did I sow, 
And with my own hand wrought to make it grow 

And this was all the Harvest that I reap'd — 
"I came like Water, and like Wind I go." 



XXIX 

Into this Universe, and Why not knowing, 
Nor Whence, like Water willy-nilly flowing; 
And out of it, as Wind along the Waste, 
I know not Whither, willy-nilly blowing. 



XXX 

What, without asking, hither hurried Whence? 
And, without asking, Whither hurried hence! 

Oh, many a Cup of this forbidden Wine 
Must drown the memory of that insolence! 



XXXI 

Up from Earth's Centre through the Seventh Gate 
I rose, and on the Throne of Saturn sate, 

And many a Knot unravel'd by the Road; 
But not the Master-knot of Human Fate. 



THIRD EDITION 95 



XXXII 



There was the Door to which I found no Key ; 
There was the Veil through which I could not see 

Some little talk awhile of Me and Thee 
There was — and then no more of Thee and Me. 



XXXIII 

Earth could not answer; nor the Seas that mourn 
In flowing Purple, of their Lord forlorn ; 

Nor rolling Heaven, with all his Signs reveal'd 
And hidden by the sleeve of Night and Morn. 



XXXIV 

Then of the Thee in Me who works behind 
The Veil, I lifted up my hands to find 

A Lamp amid the Darkness; and I heard, 
As from Without — "The Me within Thee blind!" 



XXXV 

Then to the Lip of this poor earthen Urn 
I lean'd, the Secret of my Life to learn : 

And Lip to Lip it murmur'd — "While you live, 
"Drink! — for, once dead, you never shall return." 



96 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



XXXVI 

I think the Vessel, that with fugitive 
Articulation answer'd, once did live, 

And drink ; and Ah ! the passive Lip I kiss'd, 
How many Kisses might it take — and give! 



XXXVII 

For I remember stopping by the way 

To watch a Potter thumping his wet Clay, 

And with its all-obliterated Tongue 
It murmur'd — "Gently, Brother, gently, pray?" 



XXXVIII 

Listen — a moment listen ! — Of the same 
Poor Earth from which that Human Whisper came 
The luckless Mould in which Mankind was cast 
They did compose, and call'd him by the name. 



XXXIX 

And not a drop that from our Cups we throw 
For Earth to drink of, but may steal below 

To quench the fire of Anguish in some Eye 
There hidden — far beneath, and long ago. 



THIRD EDITION 97 



XL 



As then the Tulip for her morning sup 

Of Heav'nly Vintage from the soil looks up, 

Do you devoutly do the like, till Heav'n 
To Earth invert you like an empty Cup. 



XLI 

Perplext no more with Human or Divine, 
To-morrow's tangle to the winds resign, 
And lose your fingers in the tresses of 
The Cypress-slender Minister of Wine. 



XLII 

And if the Wine you drink, the Lip you press, 
End in what All begins and ends in — Yes; 

Think then you are To-day what Yesterday 
You were — To-morrow you shall not be less. 



XLIII 

So when the Angel of the darker Drink 
At last shall find you by the river-brink, 

And, offering his Cup, invite your Soul 
Forth to your Lips to quaff — you shall not shrink. 



98 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



XLIV 

Why, if the Soul can fling the Dust aside, 
And naked on the Air of Heaven ride, 

Wer't not a Shame — wer't not a Shame for him 
In this clay carcase crippled to abide? 



XLV 

Tis but a Tent where takes his one-day's rest 
A Sultan to the realm of Death addrest; 
The Sultan rises, and the dark Ferrash 
Strikes, and prepares it for another Guest. 



XLVI 

And fear not lest Existence closing your 
Account, and mine, should know the like no more; 

The Eternal Saki from the Bowl has pour'd 
Millions of Bubbles like us, and will pour. 



XLVII 

When You and I behind the Veil are past, 

Oh but the long, long while the World shall last, 

Which of our Coming and Departure heeds 
As the Sev'n Seas should heed a pebble-cast. 



THIRD EDITION 99 



XLVIII 



A Moment's Halt — a momentary taste 

Of Being from the Well amid the Waste — 

And Lo! — the phantom Caravan has reacted 
The Nothing it set out from — Oh, make haste ! 



XLIX 

Would you that spangle of Existence spend 
About the secret — quick about it, Friend! 

A Hair perhaps divides the False and True- 
And upon what, prithee does Life depend? 



A Hair perhaps divides the False and True ; 
Yes; and a single Alif were the clue — 

Could you but find it — to the Treasure-house, 
And peradventure to The Master too; 



LI 



Whose secret Presence, through Creation's veins 
Running Quicksilver-like eludes your pains ; 
Taking all shapes from Mah to Mahi ; and 
They change and perish all — but He remains; 



100 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



LII 



A moment guess'd — then back behind the Fold 
Immerst of Darkness round the Drama roll'd 

Which, for the Pastime of Eternity, 
He does Himself contrive, enact, behold. 



LI'II 

But if in vain, down on the stubborn floor 
Of Earth, and up to Heav'n's unopening Door, 

You gaze To-day, while You are You — how then 
To-morrow, You when shall be You no more? 



LIV 

Waste not your Hour, nor in the vain pursuit 
Of This and That endeavour and dispute; 
Better be jocund with the fruitful Grape 
Than sadden after none, or bitter, Fruit. 



LV 

You know, my Friends, with what a brave Carouse 
I made a Second Marriage in my house; 

Divorced old barren Reason from my Bed, 
And took the Daughter of the Vine to Spouse. 



THIRD EDITION 101 



LVI 



For "Is" and "Is-not" though with Rule and Line, 
And "Up-and-down" by Logic I define 

Of all that one should care to fathom, I 
Was never deep in anything but — Wine. 



LVII 

Ah, but my Computations, People say, 
Reduced the Year to better reckoning? — Nay, 
- 'Twas only striking from the Calendar 
Unborn To-morrow, and dead Yesterday. 



LVIII 

And lately, by the Tavern Door agape, 

Came shining through the Dusk an Angel Shape 

Bearing a Vessel on his Shoulder ; and 
He bid me taste of it; and 'twas — the Grape! 



LIX 

The Grape that can with Logic absolute 
The Two-and-Seventy jarring Sects confute 

The sovereign Alchemist that in a trice 
Life's leaden metal into Gold transmute : 



102 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



LX 

The mighty Mahmud, Allah-breathing Lord, 
That all the misbelieving and black Horde 

Of Fears and Sorrows that infest the Soul 
Scatters before him with his whirlwind Sword. 



LXI 

Why, be this Juice the growth of God, who dare 
Blaspheme the twisted tendril as a Snare? 

A Blessing, we should use it, should we not? 
And if a Curse — why, then, Who set it there? 



LXII 

I must abjure the Balm of Life, I must, 
Scared by some After-reckoning ta'en on trust, 
Or lured with Hope of some Diviner Drink, 
To fill the Cup — when crumbled into Dust ! 



LXIII 

Oh threats of Hell and Hopes of Paradise! 
One thing at least is certain — This Life flies ; 
One thing is certain and the rest is Lies; 
The Flower that once has blown for ever dies. 



THIRD EDITION 103 



LXIV 



Strange, is it not? that of the myriads who 
Before us pass'd the door of Darkness through, 

Not one returns to tell us of the Road, 
Which to discover we must travel too. 



LXV 

The Revelations of Devout and Learn'd 
Who rose before us, and as Prophets burn'd, 

Are all but Stories, which, awoke from Sleep 
They told their fellows, and to Sleep return'd. 



LXVI 

I sent my Soul through the Invisible, 
Some letter of that After-life to spell : 

And by and by my Soul return'd to me, 
And answer'd "I Myself am Heav'n and Hell:" 



LXV1I 

Heav'n but the Vision of fulfill'd Desire, 
And Hell the, Shadow of a Soul on fire, 

Cast on the Darkness into which Ourselves, 
So late emerg'd from, shall so soon expire. 



104 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



LXVIII 

We are no other than a moving row 

Of Magic Shadow-shapes that come and go 

Round with the Sun-illumin'd Lantern held 
In Midnight by the Master of the Show ; 



LXIX 

Impotent Pieces of the Game He plays 

Upon this Chequer-board of Nights and Days; 

Hither and thither moves, and checks, and slays, 
And one by one back in the Closet lays. 



LXX 

The Ball no question makes of Ayes and Noes, 
But Right or Left as strikes the Player goes; 

And He that toss'd you down into the Field, 
He knows about it all — he knows — HE knows! 



LXXI 

The Moving Finger writes ; and, having writ, 
Moves on: nor all your Piety and Wit 

Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, 
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it. 



THIRD EDITION 105 



LXXII 



And that inverted Bowl they call the Sky, 
Whereunder crawling coop'd we live and die, 
Lift not your hands to It for help — for It 
As impotently rolls as you or I. 



LXXIII 

With Earth's first Clay They did the Last Man knead, 
And there of the Last Harvest sow'd the Seed : 

And the first Morning of Creation wrote 
What the Last Dawn of Reckoning shall read. 



LXXIV 

Yesterday This Day's Madness did prepare; 
To-morrow's Silence, Triumph, or Despair: 

Drink ! for you know not whence you came, nor why 
Drink ! for you know not why you go, nor where. 



LXXV 

I tell you this — when, started from the Goal, 
Over the flaming shoulders of the Foal 

Of Heav'n Parwin and Mushtari they flung, 
In my predestin'd Plot of Dust and Soul. 



106 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



LXXVI 

The Vine had struck a fibre : which about 
If clings my Being — let the Dervish flout; 

Of my Base metal may be filed a Key, 
That shall unlock the Door he howls without. 



LXXVII 

And this I know: whether the one True Light 
Kindle to Love, or Wrath-consume me quite, 

One Flash of It within the Tavern caught 
Better than in the Temple lost outright. 



LXXVIII 

What! out of senseless Nothing to provoke 
A conscious Something to resent the yoke 

Of unpermitted Pleasure, under pain 
Of Everlasting Penalties, if broke ! 



LXXIX 

What ! from his helpless Creature be repaid 
Pure Gold for what he lent us dross-allay'd — 

Sue for a Debt we never did contract, 
And cannot answer — Oh the sorry trade! 



THIRD EDITION 107 



LXXX 



Oh Thou, who didst with pitfall and with gin 
Beset the Road I was to wander in, 

Thou wilt not with Predestin'd Evil round 
Enmesh, and then impute my Fall to Sin ! 

LXXXI 

Oh Thou, who Man of baser Earth didst make, 
And ev'n with Paradise devise the Snake: 

For all the Sin wherewith the Face of Man 
Is blacken'd — Man's Forgiveness give — and take! 

****** 



LXXXII 

As under cover of departing Day- 
Slunk hunger-stricken Ramazan away, 

Once more within the Potter's house alone 
I stood, surrounded by the Shapes of Clay. 

LXXXIII 

Shapes of all Sorts and Sizes, great and small, 
That stood along the floor and by the wall; 

And some loquacious Vessels were; and some 
Listen'd perhaps, but never talk'd at all. 



108 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



LXXXIV 

Said one of them — "Surely not in vain 

My substance of the common Earth was ta'etl 

And to this Figure moulded, to be broke, 
Or trampled back to shapeless Earth again." 



LXXXV 

Then said a Second — "Ne'er a peevish Boy 

"Would break the Bowl from which he drank in joy; 

"And He that with his hand the Vessel made 
"Will surely not in after Wrath destroy." 



LXXXVI 

After a momentary silence spake 
Some Vessel of a more ungainly Make ; 

"They sneer at me for leaning all awry: 
"What! did the Hand then of the Potter shake?" 



LXXXVII 

Whereat some one of the loquacious Lot — 
I think a Sufi pipkin — waxing hot — 

"All this of Pot and Potter— Tell me, then, 
"Who makes— Who sells— Who buys— Who is the Pot?' 



THIRD EDITION 109 



LXXXVIII 

"Why," said another, "Some there are who tell 
"Of one who threatens he will toss to Hell 

"The luckless Pots he marr'd in making — Pish! 
"He's a Good Fellow, and 'twill all be well." 

LXXXIX 

"Well," murmur'd one, "Let whoso make or buy, 
"My Clay with long Oblivion is gone dry: 
"But rill me with the old familiar Juice, 
"Methinks I might recover by and by." 

xc 

So while the Vessels one by one were speaking, 
The little Moon look'd in that all were seeking: 

And then they jogg'd each other, "Brother ! Brother ! 
"Now for the Porter's shoulder-knot a-creaking!" 



XCI 

Ah, with the Grape my fading life provide, 
And wash the Body whence the Life has died, 

And lay me, shrouded in the living Leaf, 
By some not unfrequented Garden-side. 



110 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



XCII 

That ev'n my buried Ashes such a snare 
Of Vintage shall fling up into the Air 

As not a True-believer passing by 
But shall be overtaken unaware. 



XCIII 

Indeed the Idols I have loved so long 

Have done my credit in Men's Eye much wrong; 

Have drown'd my Glory in a shallow Cup, 
And sold my Reputation for a Song. 



XCIV 

Indeed, indeed, Repentence oft before 

I swore — but was I sober when I swore? 

And then and then came Spring, and Rose-in-hand 
My thread-bare Penitence apieces tore. 



xcv 

And much as Wine has play'd the Infidel, 
And robb'd me of my Robe of Honour — Well, 

I wonder often what the Vintners buy 
One half so precious as the stuff thev sell. 



THIRD EDITION 111 



XCVI 



Yet Ah, that Spring should vanish with the Rose! 
That Youth's sweet-scented manuscript should close! 

The Nightingale that in the branches sang, 
Ah whence, and whither flown again, who knows! 

XCVII 

Would but the Desert of the Fountain yield 
One glimpse — if dimly, yet indeed, reveal'd, 

To which the fainting Traveller might spring, 
As springs the trampled herbage of the field ! 

XCVIII 

Would but some winged Angel ere too late 
Arrest the yet unfolded Roll of Fate, 

And make the stern Recorder otherwise 
Enregister, or quite obliterate! 

XCIX 

Ah Love ! could you and I with Him conspire 
To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire, 
Would not we shatter it to bits — and then 
Re-mould it nearer to the Heart's Desire! 



112 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



Yon rising Moon that looks for us again — 
How oft hereafter will she wax and wane; 

How oft hereafter rising look for us 
Through this same Garden — and for one in vain! 



CI 

And when like her, oh Saki, you shall pass 
Among the Guests Star-scatter'd on the Grass, 

And in your blissful errand reach the spot 
Where I made One — turn down an empty Glass ! 

TAMAM 



RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 
OF NAISHAPUR 



FOURTH EDITION 

1879* 

AND 

FIFTH EDITION 

1889 



Wake! For the Sun, who scatter'd into flight 
The Stars before him from the Field of Night, 

Drives Night along with them from Heav'n, and strikes 
The Sultan's Turret with a Shaft of Light. 



II 

Before the phantom of False morning died, 
Methought a Voice within the Tavern cried, 
"When all the Temple is prepared within, 
"Why nods the drowsy Worshipper outside?" 

* The text printed here is from the Fifth Edition. See p. 150 
for slight variants in the Fourth Edition. 

113 



114 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 

I 

III 

And, as the Cock crew, those who stood before 
The Tavern shouted — "Open then the Door! 

"You know how little while we have to stay, 
"And, once departed, may return no more." 



IV 

Now the New Year reviving old Desires, 
The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires, 

Where the White Hand of Moses on the Bough 
Puts out, and Jesus from the Ground suspires. 



V 

Iram indeed is gone with all his Rose, 

And Jamshyd's Sev'n-ring'd Cup where no one knows; 

But still a Ruby kindles in the Vine, 
And many a Garden by the Water blows. 



VI 

And David's lips are lockt; but in divine 
High-piping Pehlevi, with "Wine! Wine! Wine! 

"Red Wine I" — the Nightingale cries to the Rose 
That sallow cheek of hers to' incarnadine. 



FOURTH AND FIFTH EDITIONS 115 



VII 

Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring 
Your Winter-garment of Repentance fling: 

The Bird of Time has but a little way 
To flutter — and the Bird is on the Wing. 



VIII 

Whether at Naishapur or Babylon, 
Whether the Cup with sweet or bitter run, 

The Wine of Life keeps oozing drop by drop, 
The Leaves of Life keep falling one by one. 



IX 

Each Morn a thousand Roses brings, you say: 
Yes, but where leaves the Rose of Yesterday? 

And this first Summer month that brings the Rose 
Shall take Jamshyd and Kaikobad away. 



Well, let it take them ! What have we to do 
With Kaikobad the Great, or Kaikhosru? 

Let Zal and Rustum bluster as they will, 
Or Hatim call to Supper — heed not you. 



116 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



XI 



With me along the strip of Herbage strown 
That just divides the desert from the sown, 

Where name of Slave and Sultan is forgot — 
And Peace to Mahmud on his golden Throne! 



XII 

A Book of Verses underneath the Bough, 
A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread — and Thou 

Beside me singing in the Wilderness — 
Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow! 



XIII 

Some for the Glories of This World ; and some 
Sigh for the Prophet's Paradise to come; 
Ah, take the Cash, and let the Credit go, 
Nor heed the rumble of a distant Drurn ! 



XIV 

Look to the blowing Rose about us — "Lo, 
"Laughing," she says, "into the world I blow, 

"At once the silken tassel of my Purse 
"Tear, and its Treasure on the Garden throw.' 



FOURTH AND FIFTH EDITIONS 117 



XV 

And those who husbanded the Golden grain, 
And those who flung it to the winds like Rain, 

Alike to no such aureate Earth are turn'd 
As, buried once, Men want dug up again. 



XVI 

The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon 
Turns Ashes — or it prospers; and anon, 

Like Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face, 
Lighting a little hour or two — is gone 



XVII 

Think, in this batter'd Caravanserai 

Whose Portals are alternate Night and Day, 

How Sultan after Sultan with his Pomp 
Abode his destined Hour, and went his way. 



XVIII 

They say the Lion and the Lizard keep 

The Courts where Jamshyd gloried and drank deep : 

And Bahram, that great Hunter — the Wild Ass 
Stamps o'er his Head, but cannot break his Sleep. 



118 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



XIX 

I sometimes think that never blows so red 
The Rose as where some buried Csesar bled; 

That every Hyacinth the Garden wears 
Dropt in her Lap from some once lovely Head. 



XX 



And this reviving Herb whose tender Green 
Fledges the River-Lip on which we lean — 
Ah, lean upon it lightly ! for who knows 
From what once lovely Lip it springs unseen! 



XXI 

Ah, my Beloved, fill the Cup that clears 
To-day of past Regrets and future Fears : 

To-morrow! — Why, To-morrow I may be 
Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n thousand Years. 



XXII 

For some we loved, the loveliest and the best 
That from his Vintage rolling Time hath prest, 

Have drunk their Cup a Round or two before, 
And one by one crept silently to rest. 



FOURTH AND FIFTH EDITIONS 119 



XXIII 

And we, that now make merry in the Room 
They left, and Summer dresses in new bloom, 

Ourselves must we beneath the Couch of Earth 
Descend — ourselves to make a Couch: — for whom? 



XXIV 

Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend, 
Before we too into the Dust descend ; 

Dust into Dust, and under Dust to lie, 
Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and — sans End! 



XXV 

Alike for those who for To-day prepare, 
And those that after some To-morrow stare, 

A Muezzin from the Tower of Darkness cries, 
"Fools! your Reward is neither Here nor There.'* 



XXVI 

Why, all the Saints and Sages who discuss'd 
Of the Two Worlds so wisely — they are thrust 

Like foolish Prophets forth; their Words to Scorn 
Are scatter'd, and their Mouths are stopt with Dust. 



120 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



XXVII 

Myself when young did eagerly frequent 
Doctor and Saint, and heard great argument 

About it and about : but evermore 
Came out by the same door where in I went. 



XXVIII 

With them the seed of Wisdom did I sow, 

And with mine own hand wrought to make it grow ; 

And this was all the Harvest that I reap'd — 
"I came like Water, and like Wind I go." 



XXIX 

Into this Universe, and Why not knowing 
Nor Whence, like Water willy-nilly flowing; 

And out of it, as Wind along the Waste, 
I know not Whither, willy-nilly blowing. 



XXX 

What, without asking, hither hurried Whence? 
And, without asking, Whither hurried hence ! 

Oh, many a Cup of this forbidden Wine 
Must drown the memory of that insolence ! 



FOURTH AND FIFTH EDITIONS 121 



XXXI 

Up from Earth's Centre through the Seventh Gate 
I rose, and on the Throne of Saturn sate, 

And many a Knot unravel'd by the Road; 
But not the Master-knot of Human Fate. 



XXXII 

There was the Door to which I found no Key ; 
There was the Veil through which I might not see : 

Some little talk awhile of Me and Thee 
There was — and then no more of Thee and Me. 



XXXIII 

Earth could not answer ; nor the Seas that mourn 
In flowing Purple, of their Lord forlorn; 

Nor rolling Heaven, with all his Signs reveal'd 
And hidden by the sleeve of Night and Morn. 



XXXIV 

Then of the Thee in Me who works behind 
The Veil, I lifted up my hands to find 

A lamp amid the Darkness ; and I heard, 
As from Without — "The Me within Thee blind!" 



122 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



XXXV 

Then to the Lip of this poor earthen Urn 
I lean'd, the Secret of my Life to learn: 

And Lip to Lip it murmur'd — "While you live, 
"Drink! — for, once dead, you never shall return. 



XXXVI 

I think the Vessel, that with fugitive 
Articulation answer'd, once did live, 

And drink ; and Ah ! the passive Lip I kiss'd, 
How many Kisses might it take — and give ! 



XXXVII 

For I remember stopping by the way 

To watch a Potter thumping his wet Clay: 

And with its all-obliterated Tongue 
It murmur'd — "Gently, Brother, gently, pray!" 



XXXVIII 

And has not such a Story from of Old 
Down Man's successive generations roll'd 

Of such a clod of saturated Earth 
Cast by the Maker into Human mould? 



FOURTH AND FIFTH EDITIONS 123 



XXXIX 

And not a drop that from our Cups we throw 
For Earth to drink of, but may steal below 

To quench the fire of Anguish in some Eye 
There hidden — far beneath, and long ago. 



XL 

As then the Tulip for her morning sup 

Of Heav'nly Vintage from the soil looks up, 

Do you devoutly do the like, till Heav'n 
To Earth invert you — like an empty Cup. 



XLI 

Perplext no more with Human or Divine, 
To-morrow's tangle to the winds resign, 
And lose your ringers in the tresses of 
The Cypress-slender Minister of Wine. 



XLII 

And if the Wine you drink, the Lip you press, 
End in what All begins and ends in — Yes; 

Think then you are To-day what Yesterday 
You were — To-morrow you shall not be less. 



124 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



XLIII 

So when that Angel of the darker Drink 
At last shall find you by the river-brink, 

And, offering his Cup, invite your Soul 
Forth to your Lips to quaff — you shall not shrink. 



XLIV 

Why, if the Soul can fling the Dust aside, 
And naked on the Air of Heaven ride, 

Were't not a Shame — were't not a Shame for him 
In this clay carcase crippled to abide? 



XLV 

Tis but a Tent where takes his one day's rest 
A Sultan to the realm of Death addrest ; 
The Sultan rises, and the dark Ferrash 
Strikes, and prepares it for another Guest. 



XLVI 

And fear not lest Existence closing your 
Account, and mine, should know the like no more ; 

The Eternal Saki from that Bowl has pour'd 
Millions of Bubbles like us, and will pour. 



FOURTH AND FIFTH EDITIONS 125 



XLVII 

When You and I behind the Veil are past, 

Oh, but the long, long while the World shall last, 

Which of our Coming and Departure heeds 
As the Sea's self should heed a pebble-cast. 



XLVIII 

A Moment's Halt — a momentary taste 
Of Being from the Well amid the Waste — 

And Lo ! — the phantom Caravan has reach'd 
The Nothing it set out from — Oh, make haste! 



XLIX 

Would you that spangle of Existence spend 
About the secret — quick about it, Friend! 

A Hair perhaps divides the False and True — ■ 
And upon what, prithee, may life depend? 



A Hair perhaps divides the False and True, 
Yes ; and a single Alif were the clue — 

Could you but find it — to the Treasure-house, 
And peradventure to The Master too ; 



126 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



LI 

Whose secret Presence, through Creation's veins 
Running Quicksilver-like eludes your pains ; 
Taking all shapes from Mah to Mahi ; and 
They change and perish all — but He remains; 



LII 



A moment guess'd — then back behind the Fold 
Immerst of Darkness round the Drama roll'd 

Which, for the Pastime of Eternity, 
He doth Himself contrive, enact, behold. 



LIII 

But if in vain, down on the stubborn floor 

Of Earth, and up to Heav'n's unopening Door, 

You gaze To-day, while You are You — how then 
To-morrow, when You shall be You no more? 



LIV 

Waste not your Hour, nor in the vain pursuit 
Of This and That endeavour and dispute; 
Better be jocund with the fruitful Grape 
Than sadden after none, or bitter, Fruit. 



FOURTH AND FIFTH EDITIONS 127 



LV 

You know, my Friends, with what a brave Carouse 
I made a Second Marriage in my house ; 

Divorced old barren Reason from my Bed, 
And took the Daughter of the Vine to Spouse. 



LVI 

For "Is" and "Is-not" though with Rule and Line 
And "Up-and-down" by Logic I define, 

Of all that one should care to fathom, I 
Was never deep in anything but — Wine. 



LVII 

Ah, but my Computations, People say, 
Reduced the Year to better reckoning? — Nay, 

'Twas only striking from the Calendar 
Unborn To-morrow and dead Yesterday. 



LVIII 

And lately, by the Tavern Door agape, 

Came shining through the Dusk an Angel Shape 

Bearing a Vessel on his Shoulder ; and 
He bid me taste of it ; and 'twas — the Grape ! 



128 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



LIX 

The Grape that can with Logic absolute 

The Two-and-Seventy jarring Sects confute : 

The sovereign Alchemist that in a trice 
Life's leaden metal into Gold transmute: 



LX 



The mighty Mahmud, Allah-breathing Lord, 
That all the misbelieving and black Horde 

Of Fears and Sorrows that infest the Soul 
Scatters before him with his whirlwind Sword. 



LXI 

Why, be this Juice the growth of God, who dare 
Blaspheme the twisted tendril as a Snare? 

A Blessing, we should use it, should we not? 
And if a Curse — why, then, Who set it there? 



LXII 

I must abjure the Balm of Life, I must, 
Scared by some After-reckoning ta'en on trust, 
Or lured with Hope of some Diviner Drink, 
To fill the Cup — when crumbled into Dust! 



FOURTH AND FIFTH EDITIONS 129 



LXIII 

Oh threats of Hell and Hopes of Paradise ! 
One thing at least is certain — This Life flies; 

One thing is certain and the rest is Lies ; 
The Flower that once has blown for ever dies. 



LXIV 

Strange, is it not? that of the myriads who 
Before us pass'd the door of Darkness through, 

Not one returns to tell us of the Road, 
Which to discover we must travel too. 



LXV 

The Revelations of Devout and Learn'd 
Who rose before us, and as Prophets burn'd, 

Are all but Stories, which, awoke from Sleep 
They told their comrades, and to Sleep return'd. 



LXVI 

I sent my Soul through the Invisible, 
Some letter of that After-life to spell: 

And by and by my Soul return'd to me, 
And answer'd "I Myself am Heav'n and Hell 



130 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



LXVII 

Heav'n but the Vision of fulfill'd Desire, 
And Hell the Shadow from a Soul on fire, 

Cast on the Darkness into which Ourselves, 
So late emerged from, shall so soon expire. 



LXVIII 

We are no other than a moving row 

Of Magic Shadow-shapes that come and go 

Round with the Sun-illumined Lantern held 
In Midnight by the Master of the Show ; 



LXIX 

But helpless Pieces of the Game He plays 
Upon this Chequer-board of Nights and Days; 

Hither and thither moves, and checks, and slays, 
And one by one back in the Closet lays. 



LXX 

The Ball no question makes of Ayes and Noes, 

But Here or There as strikes the Player goes; 

And He that toss'd you down into the Field, 

He knows about it all — he knows — HE knows ! 



FOURTH AND FIFTH EDITIONS 131 



LXXI 

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, 
Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit 

Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, 
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it. 



LXXII 

And that inverted Bowl they call the Sky, 
Whereunder crawling coop'd we live and die, 

Lift not your hands to It for help — for It 
As impotently moves as you or I. 



LXXIII 

With Earth's first Clay They did the Last Man knead, 
And there of the Last Harvest sow'd the Seed: 

And the first Morning of Creation wrote 
What the Last Dawn of Reckoning shall read. 



LXXIV 

Yesterday This Day's Madness did prepare; 
To-morrow's Silence, Triumph, or Despair: 

Drink ! for you know not whence you came, nor why 
Drink! for you know not why you go, nor where. 



132 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



LXXV 

I tell you this — When, started from the Goal, 
Over the flaming shoulders of the Foal 

Of Heav'n Parwin and Mushtari they flung - , 
In my predestined Plot of Dust and Soul. 



LXXVI 

The Vine had struck a fibre : which about 
If clings my Being — let the Dervish flout; 

Of my Base metal may be filed a Key 
That shall unlock the Door he howls without. 



LXXVII 

And this I know : whether the one True Light 
Kindle to Love, or Wrath-consume me quite, 
One Flash of It within the Tavern caught 
Better than in the Temple lost outright. 



LXXVIII 

What! out of senseless Nothing to provoke 
A conscious Something to resent the yoke 

Of unpermitted Pleasure, under pain 
Of Everlasting Penalties, if broke! 



FOURTH AND FIFTH EDITIONS 133 



LXXIX 

What ! from his helpless Creature be repaid 
Pure Gold for what he lent him dross-allay'd — 

Sue for a Debt he never did contract, 
And cannot answer — Oh the sorry trade! 

LXXX 

Oh Thou, who didst with pitfall and with gin 
Beset the Road I was to wander in, 

Thou wilt not with Predestined Evil round 
Enmesh, and then impute my Fall to Sin! 

LXXXI 

Oh Thou, who Man of baser Earth didst make, 
And ev'n with Paradise devise the Snake: 

For all the Sin wherewith the Face of Man 
Is blacken'd — Man's forgiveness give — and take! 



LXXXII 

As under cover of departing Day 
Slunk hunger-stricken Ramazan away, 

Once more within the Potter's house alone 
I stood, surrounded by the Shapes of Clay. 



134 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



LXXXIII 

Shapes of all Sorts and Sizes, great and small, 
That stood along the floor and by the wall ; 

And some loquacious Vessels were; and some 
Listen'd perhaps, but never talk'd at all. 



LXXXIV 

Said one among them — "Surely not in vain 
"My substance of the common Earth was ta'en 

"And to this Figure moulded, to be broke, 
"Or trampled back to shapeless Earth again." 



LXXXV 

Then said a Second — "Ne'er a peevish Boy 

"Would break the Bowl from which he drank in joy; 

"And He that with his hand the Vessel made 
"Will surely not in after Wrath destroy." 



LXXXVI 

After a momentary silence spake 
Some Vessel of a more ungainly Make; 

"They sneer at me for leaning all awry: 
"What! did the Hand then of the Potter shake?" 



FOURTH AND FIFTH EDITIONS 135 



LXXXVII 

Whereat some one of the loquacious Lot— 
I think a Sufi pipkin — waxing hot — 

"All this of Pot and Potter— Tell me, then, 
"Who is the Potter, pray, and who the Pot?" 

LXXXVIII 

"Why," said another, "Some there are who tell 
"Of one who threatens he will toss to Hell 

"The luckless Pots he marr'd in making — Pish! 
"He's a Good Fellow, and 'twill all be well. ,, 

LXXXIX 

"Well," murmur'd one, "Let whoso make or buy, 
"My Clay with long Oblivion is gone dry: 
"But fill me with the old familiar Juice. 
"Methinks I might recover by and by." 

XC 

So while the Vessels one by one were speaking, 
The little Moon look'd in that all were seeking: 

And then they jogg'd each other, "Brother! Brother! 
"Now for the Porter's shoulder-knot a-creaking!" 

T* *f* *J* T* *p *|C 



136 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



XCI 

Ah, with the Grape my fading life provide, 
And wash the Body whence the Life has died, 

And lay me, shrouded in the living Leaf, 
By some not unfrequented Garden-side. 



XCII 

That ev'n my buried Ashes such a snare 
Of Vintage shall fling up into the Air 
As not a True-believer passing by 
But shall be overtaken unaware. 



XCIII 

Indeed the Idols I have loved so long 

Have done my credit in this World much wrong: 

Have drown'd my Glory in a shallow Cup, 
And sold my Reputation for a Song. 



XCIV 

Indeed, indeed, Repentance oft before 
I swore — but was I sober when I swore ? 

And then and then came Spring, and Rose-in-hand 
My thread-bare Penitence apieces tore. 



FOURTH AND FIFTH EDITIONS 137 



XCV 

And much as Wine has play'd the Infidel, 
And robb'd me of my Robe of Honour — Well, 

I wonder often what the Vintners buy 
One half so precious as the stuff they sell. 



XCVI 

Yet Ah, that Spring should vanish with the Rose ! 
That Youth's sweet-scented manuscript should close! 

The Nightingale that in the branches sang, 
Ah whence, and whither flown again, who knows ! 



XCVII 

Would but the Desert of the Fountain yield 
One glimpse — if dimly, yet indeed, reveal'd, 

To which the fainting Traveller might spring, 
As springs the trampled herbage of the field ! 



XCVIII 

Would but some winged Angel ere too late 
Arrest the yet unfolded Roll of Fate, 

And make the stern Recorder otherwise 
Enregister, or quite obliterate ! 



138 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



XCIX 

Ah Love ! could you and I with Him conspire 
To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire, 
Would not we shatter it to bits — and then 
Re-mould it nearer to the Heart's Desire! 



Yon rising Moon that looks for us again — 
How oft hereafter will she wax and wane; 

How oft hereafter rising look for us 
Through this same Garden — and for one in vain! 



CI 



And when like her, oh Saki, you shall pass 
Among the Guests Star-scatter'd on the Grass, 

And in your joyous errand reach the spot 
Where I made One — turn down an empty Glass ! 



TAMAM 



NOTES TO THE THIRD AND FOURTH 
EDITIONS 

By Edward Fitzgerald 

(Stanza n.) The "False Dawn" ; Subhi Kdsib, a tran- 
sient Light on the Horizon about an hour before the 
Subhi sddik, or True Dawn; a well-known Phenomenon 
in the East. 

(iv.) New Year. Beginning with the Vernal Equi- 
nox, it must be remembered; and (howsoever the old 
Solar Year is practically superseded by the clumsy Lunar 
Year that dates from the Mohammedan Hijra) still com- 
memorated by a Festival that is said to have been ap- 
pointed by the very Jamshyd whom Omar so often talks 
of, and whose yearly Calendar he helped to rectify. 

"The sudden approach and rapid advance of the 
Spring," says Mr. Binning, 1 "are very striking. Before 
the Snow is well off the Ground, the Trees burst into 
Blossom, and the Flowers start forth from the soil. At 
Now Rooz [their New Year's Day] the Snow was lying 
in patches on the Hills and in the shaded Vallies, while 
the Fruit-trees in the Gardens were budding beautifully, 
and green Plants and Flowers springing up on the Plains 
on every side — 

'And on old Hyems' Chin and icy Crown 
'An odorous Chaplet of sweet Summer buds 
'Is, as in mockery, set/ — 

1 Two Years' Travel in Persia, &c. i. 165. 

139 



140 NOTES 

Among the Plants newly appeared I recognized some old 
Acquaintances I had not seen for many a Year : among 
these, two varieties of the Thistle — a coarse species of 
Daisy like the 'Horsegowan' — red and white Clover — 
the Dock — the blue Cornflower — and that vulgar Herb 
the Dandelion rearing its yellow crest on the Banks of the 
Water-courses." The Nightingale was not yet heard, 
for the Rose was not yet blown ; but an almost identical 
Blackbird and Woodpecker helped to make up something 
of a North-country Spring. 

"The White Hand of Moses." Exodus iv. 6; where 
Moses draws forth his Hand — not, according to the Per- 
sians, 'leprous as Snow/' — but white, as our May-blos- 
som in Spring perhaps. According to them also the 
Healing Power of Jesus resided in his Breath. 

(v.) Iram, planted by King Shaddad, and now sunk 
somewhere in the Sands of Arabia. Jamshyd's Seven- 
ring'd Cup was typical of the 7 Heavens, 7 Planets, 7 
Seas, &c, and was a Divining Cup. 

(vi.) Pehlevi, the old Heroic Sanskrit of Persia. 
Hafiz also speaks of the Nightingale's Pehlevi, which 
did not change with the People's. 

I am not sure if the fourth line refers to the Red Rose 
looking sickly, or to the Yellow Rose that ought to be 
Red; Red, White, and Yellow Roses all common in Per- 
sia. I think that Southey, in his Common-Place Book, 
quotes from some Spanish author about the Rose being 
White till 10 o'clock; "Rosa Perfecta" at 2; and "per- 
fecta incarnada" at 5. 

(x.) Rustum, the "Hercules" of Persia, and Zal his 
Father, whose exploits are among the most celebrated 
in the Shahnama. Hatim Tai, a well-known type of 
Oriental Generosity. 



NOTES 141 

(xiii.) A Drum — beaten outside a Palace. 

(xiv.) That is, the Rose's Golden Centre. 

(xviii.) Persepolis: call'd also Takht-i-Jamshyd — 
The Throne of Jamshyd, "King Splendid'* of the 
mythical Peshdddian Dynasty, and supposed (according 
to the Shahnama) to have been founded and built by 
him. Others refer it to the Work of the Genie King, 
Jan Ibn Jan — who also built the Pyramids — before the 
time of Adam. 

Bahram Gur — Bahrain of the Wild Ass — a Sassanian 
Sovereign — had also his Seven Castles (like the King of 
Bohemia!) each of a different Colour; each with a Royal 
Mistress within ; each of whom tells him a Story, as told 
in one of the most famous Poems of Persia, written by 
Amir Khusraw : all these Sevens also figuring (accord- 
ing to Eastern Mysticism) the Seven Heavens ; and per- 
haps the Book itself that Eighth, into which the mystical 
Seven transcend, and within which they revolve. The 
Ruins of Three of Those Towers are yet shown by the 
Peasantry; as also the Swamp in which Bahram sunk, 
like the master of Ravenswood, while pursuing his Gur. 

The Palace that to Heav'n his pillars threw, 
And Kings the forehead on his threshold drew — 

I saw the solitary Ringdove there, 
And "Coo, coo, coo," she cried; and "Coo, coo, coo." 

This Quatrain Mr. Binning found, among several of 
Hafiz and others, inscribed by some stray hand among 
the ruins of Persepolis. The Ringdove's ancient Pehlevi 
Coo, Coo, Coo, signifies also in Persian "Where? Where? 
Where?" In Attar's "Bird-parliament" she is reproved 
by the Leader of the Birds for sitting still, and for ever 
harping on that one note of lamentation for her lost 
Yusuf. 



142 NOTES 

Apropos of Omar's Red Roses in Stanza xix, I am 
reminded of an old English Superstition, that our Ane- 
mone Pulsatilla, or purple "Pasque Flower" (which grows 
plentifully about the Fleam Dyke, near Cambridge), 
grows only where Danish Blood has been spilt. 

(xxi.) A thousand years to each Planet. 

(xxxi.) Saturn, Lord of the Seventh Heaven. 

(xxxn.) Me-and-Thee : some individual Existence or 
Personality distinct from the Whole. 

(xxxvu.) One of the Persian Poets — Attar, I think 
— has a pretty story about this. A thirsty Traveller dips 
his hand into a Spring of Water to drink from. By- 
and-by comes another who draws up and drinks from an 
earthen Bowl, and then departs, leaving his Bowl behind 
him. The first Traveller takes it up for another draught ; 
but is surprised to find that the same Water which had 
tasted sweet from his own hand tastes bitter from the 
earthen Bowl. But a Voice — from Heaven, I think — 
tells him the clay from which the Bowl is made was once 
Man; and, into whatever shape renewed, can never lose 
the bitter flavor of Mortality. 

(xxxix.) The custom of throwing a little Wine on 
the ground before drinking still continues in Persia, and 
perhaps generally in the East. Mons. Nicolas considers 
it "un signe de liberalite, et en meme temps un aver- 
tissement que le buveur doit vider sa coupe jusqu'a la 
derniere goutte. ,, Is it not more likely an ancient Super- 
stition ; a Libation to propitiate Earth, or make her an 
Accomplice in the illicit Revel? Or, perhaps, to divert 
the Jealous Eye by some sacrifice of superfluity, as with 
the Ancients of the West? With Omar we see some- 
thing more is signified; the precious Liquor is not lost, 



NOTES 143 

but sinks into the ground to refresh the dust of some 
poor Wine-worshipper foregone. 

Thus Hafiz, copying Omar in so many ways: "When 
thou drinkest Wine pour a draught on the ground. 
Wherefore fear the Sin which brings to another Gain ?" 

(xliii.) According to one beautiful Oriental Legend, 
Azrael accomplishes his mission by holding to the nostril 
an Apple from the Tree of Life. 

This and the two following Stanzas would have been 
withdrawn, as somewhat de tr.op, from the Text, but for 
advice which I least like to disregard. 

(li.) From Mah to Mahi ; from Fish to Moon. 

(lvi.) A Jest, of course, at his Studies. A curious 
mathematical Quatrain of Omar's has been pointed out 
to me ; the more curious because almost exactly parallel'd 
by some Verses of Doctor Donne's, that are quoted in 
Izaak Walton's Lives! Here is Omar: "You and I are 
the image of a pair of compasses; though we have two 
heads (sc. our feet) we have one body; when we have 
fixed the centre for our circle, we bring our heads (sc. 
feet) together at the end." Dr. Donne: 

If we be two, we two are so 

As stiff twin-compasses are two; 
Thy Soul, the fixt foot, makes no show 
To move, but does if the other do. 

And though thine in the centre sit, 
Yet when my other far does roam, 

Thine leans and hearkens after it, 
And grows erect as mine comes home. 

Such thou must be to me, who must 

Like the other foot obliquely run; 
Thy firmness makes my circle just, 

And me to end where I begun. 



144 NOTES 

(lix.) The Seventy-two Religions supposed to di- 
vide the World, including Islamism, as some think: but 
others not. 

(lx.) Alluding to Sultan Mahmud's Conquest of In- 
dia and its dark people. 

(lxviii.) Fdnusi khiyal, a Magic-lantern still used in 
India; the cylindrical Interior being painted with vari- 
ous Figures, and so lightly poised and ventilated as to 
revolve round the lighted Candle within. 

(lxx.) A very mysterious Line in the Original: 

O danad O danad danad O 

breaking off something like our Woodpigeon's Note, 
which she is said to take up just where she left off. 

(lxxv.) Parwin and Mushtari — The Pleiads and 
Jupiter. 

(lxxxvii.) This Relation of Pot and Potter to Man 
and his Maker figures far and wide in the Literature of 
the World, from the time of the Hebrew Prophets to 
the present; when it may finally take the name of "Pot 
theism," by which Mr. Carlyle ridiculed Sterling's "Pan- 
theism." My Sheikh, whose knowledge flows in from 
all quarters, writes to me — 

"Apropos of old Omar's Pots, did I ever tell you the 
sentence I found in 'Bishop Pearson on the Creed'? 
'Thus are we wholly at the disposal of His will, and our 
present and future condition framed and ordered by His 
free, but wise and just decrees. Hath not the potter 
power over the clay, of the same lump to make one 
vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? (Rom. 
ix. 21.) And can that earth- artificer have a freer power 
over his brother potsherd (both being made of the same 
metal), than God hath over him, who, by the strange 



NOTES 145 

fecundity of His omnipotent power, first made the clay- 
out of nothing, and then him out of that?' " 

And again — from a different quarter — "I had to refer 
the other day to Aristophanes, and came by chance on a 
curious Speaking-pot story in the Vespse, which I had 
quite forgotten. 

$iAoxXecov. "Axoue, jxti cpevy'' £v 2u6dQ£i vuvri Jtoxs I. 1435 

xax£a| exivov. 
KaxriYOQog. Taux' £yo) M-aQXUQOu,oa. 

$1. Ol)Xt"V05 OUV £XCOV XIV' &K£\ia.QTVQCLTO' 

EW r\ 2u6aQixi; eIxev, eI val xdv xoqoiv 
xtjv \iaQTVQiay xauxTiv sdaag, ev x&xei 
£ju5egu.ov EJtQioo, voi5v av £tx££ kXeiovol, 

"The Pot calls a bystander to be a witness to his bad 
treatment. The woman says, 'If, by Proserpine, instead 
of all this "testifying' 5 (comp. Cuddie and his mother in 
"Old Mortality!") you would buy yourself a rivet, it 
would show more sense in you V The Scholiast explains 
echinus as ayvo? xi ex xeqoi^ou." 

One more illustration for the oddity's sake from the 
"Autobiography of a Cornish Rector," by the late James 
Hamley Tregenna. 1871.* 

"There was one old Fellow in our Company — he was 
so like a Figure in the 'Pilgrim's Progress' that Richard 
always called him the 'Allegory/ with a long white 
beard — a rare Appendage in those days — and a Face the 
colour of which seemed to have been baked in, like the 
Faces one used to see on Earthenware Jugs. In our 
Country-dialect Earthenware is called 'dome* '; so the 
Boys of the Village used to shout out after him — 'Go 
back to the Potter, old Clome-face, and get baked over 
again.' For the 'Allegory,' though shrewd enough in 
* Added to the Fourth Edition. 



146 NOTES 

most things, had the reputation of being 'saift-baked/ 
i.e., of weak intellect." 

(xc.) At the Close of the Fasting Month, Ramazan 
(which makes the Musulman unhealthy and unamiable), 
the first Glimpse of the New Moon (who rules their 
division of the Year), is looked for with the utmost 
Anxiety, and hailed with Acclamation. Then it is that 
the Porter's Knot may be heard — toward the Cellar. 
Omar has elsewhere a pretty Quatrain about the same 
Moon — 



"Be of Good Cheer — the sullen Month will die, 
"And a young Moon requite us by and by : 

"Look how the Old one, meagre, bent, and wan 
"With Age and Fast, is fainting from the Sky!" 



NOTE BY W. ALDIS WRIGHT* 

It must be admitted that FitzGerald took great liber- 
ties with the original in his version of Omar Khayyam. 
The first stanza is entirely his own, and in stanza xxxi. 
of the fourth edition (xxxvi. in the second) he has intro- 
duced two lines from Attar (see Letters, p. 251). In 
stanza lxxxi. (fourth edition), writes Professor Cowell, 
"There is no original for the line about the snake: I 
have looked for it in vain in Nicolas ; but I have always 
supposed that the last line is FitzGerald's mistaken ver- 
sion of Quatr. 236 in Nicolas' ed. which runs thus: 

O thou who knowest the secrets of every one's mind, 
Who graspest every one's hand in the hour of weakness, 
O God, give me repentance and accept my excuses, 
O thou who givest repentence and acceptest the excuses of every 
one. 

FitzGerald mistook the meaning of giving and accepting 
as used here, and so invented his last line out of his 
own mistake. I wrote to him about it when I was in 
Calcutta ; but he never cared to alter it." 

* Added to the Fifth Edition. 



147 



COMPARISON OF THE FIVE EDITIONS 

SHOWING VARIATIONS 

IN TEXT 

NOTE 

The variations from the final form are indicated by 
heavy-faced type. The following variants should also 
be noted: 

First Edition. Stanza xlv not included in subsequent 
Editions. See p. 253. 

Second Edition. Stanzas xiv, xxviii, xliv, lxv, 
lxxvii, lxxxvi, xcix and cvn were not included in sub- 
sequent editions. Stanza xx was not included in the text 
in later printings, but was quoted in note to Stanza xvin 
in the Third and Fourth Editions. See pp. 253-255. 

Third Edition. Fitzgerald's "first draught" differs 
from the printed text as follows : 

Stanza I, 11. 1 and 2 

Wake ! For the Sun before him into Night 
A Signal flung that put the Stars to flight. 

Stanza xxxvm, 1. 1 

For, in your Ear a moment — of the same 

149 



150 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 

Stanza xl, 1. 2 
Of Wine from Heav'n her little Tass lifts up. 

Stanza xli, 11. 1 and 2 

Oh, plagued no more with Human or Divine 
To-morrow's tangle to itself resign. 

Stanza xli, 11. 1 and 2 
And if the Cup, and if the Lip you press. 

Stanza xlviii, 1. 3 
Before the starting Caravan has reach'd 

Stanza liii, 1. 4 
To-morrow, when You shall be You no more. 

Stanza lxxii, 1. 1 
And that inverted Bowl we call The Sky. 

Stanza ci 
And when Yourself with silver step shall pass. 

Fourth Edition. The text printed in the following 
pages is from the Fifth Edition, which is the same as 
the Fourth Edition, except as follows: 

Fifth Ed. Fourth Ed. 

Quatrain i, line 1, Sun, = Sun 

" vi, " 4, hers = her's 

" xvi, " 4, is gone = was gone 

" xvn, " 4, destined = destin'd 

" xxi, " 2, Regrets = Regret 

" xxiv, " 3, under Dust = under Dust, 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 



151 









Fifth Ed. 


Fowth Ed. 


Quatrain xliii, 


line 


1, 


that Angel 


= the Angel 


" XLIV, 


<( 


3, 


Were't 


= Wer't 


" XLVIII, 


a 


3, 


reach'd 


= reacht 


" XLIX, 


a 


4, 


may 


= does 


LVI, 


a 


1, 


Line 


= Line, 


" LXVII, 


tt 


2, 


fire, 


= fire 


" LXVII, 


tt 


4, 


emerged 


= emerg'd 


LXVIII, 


a 


3, 


illumined 


= illumin'd 


LXXIV, 


a 


2, 


To-Mor row's =To-Morrows 


LXXV, 


a 


4, 


predestined 


= predestin'd 


LXXIX, 


tt 


3, 


he 


= we 


" LXXX, 


Si 


3, 


Predestined 


= Predestin'd 



The changes found in the fifth edition were made in ms. by 
Fitzgerald in a copy of the fourth edition discovered by W. Aldis 
Wright in a little tin box. 



152 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 I 

Awake! for Morning in the Bowl of Night 

Has flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight: 

And Lo! the Hunter of the East has caught 
The Sultan's Turret in a Noose of Light. 



1868 I 

Wake! For the Sun behind yon Eastern height 
Has chased the Session of the Stars from Night, 

And, to the field of Heav'n ascending, strikes 
The Sultan's Turret with a Shaft of Light. 



1872 I 

Wake! For the Sun who scatter'd into flight 
The Stars before him from the Field of Night, 

Drives Night along with them from Heav'n, and strikes 
The Sultan's Turret with a Shaft of Light. 



1879 and 1889 I 

Wake ! For the Sun, who scatter'd into flight 
The Stars before him from the Field of Night, 

Drives Night along with them from Heav'n, and strikes 
The Sultan's Turret with a Shaft of Light. 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 153 



1859 II 

Dreaming when Dawn's Left Hand was in the Sky, 
I heard a Voice within the Tavern cry, 

"Awake, my Little ones, and fill the Cup 
"Before Life's Liquor in its Cup be dry." 



1868 II 

Before the phantom of False morning died, 
Methought a Voice within the Tavern cried, 
"When all the Temple is prepared within, 
"Why lags the drowsy Worshipper outside?' 



1872 II 

Before the phantom of False morning died, 
Methought a Voice within the Tavern cried, 
"When all the Temple is prepared within, 
"Why nods the drowsy Worshipper outside?" 



1879 and 1889 II 

Before the phantom of False morning died, 
Methought a Voice within the Tavern cried, 
"When all the Temple is prepared within, 
"Why nods the drowsy Worshipper outside?" 



154 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 HI 

And, as the Cock crew, those who stood before 
The Tavern shouted — "Open then the Door! 
"You know how little while we have to stay, 
"And, once departed, may return no more." 



1868 HI 

And, as the Cock crew, those who stood before 
The Tavern shouted — "Open then the Door ! 

"You know how little while we have to stay, 
"And, once departed, may return no more." 



1872 HI 

And, as the Cock crew, those who stood before 
The Tavern shouted — "Open then the Door ! 

"You know how little while we have to stay, 
"And, once departed, may return no more." 



1879 and 1889 III 

And, as the Cock crew, those who stood before 
The Tavern* shouted — "Open then the Door! 

"You know how little while we have to stay, 
"And, once departed, may return no more." 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 155 



1859 IV 

Now the New Year reviving old Desires, 
The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires, 

Where the White Hand of Moses on the Bough 
Puts out, and Jesus from the Ground suspires. 



1868 IV 

Now the New Year reviving old Desires, 
The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires, 

Where the White Hand of Moses on the Bough 
Puts out, and Jesus from the Ground suspires. 



1872 IV 

Now the New Year reviving old Desires, 
The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires, 

Where the White Hand of Moses on the Bough 
Puts out, and Jesus from the Ground suspires. 



1879 and 1889 IV 

Now the New Year reviving old Desires, 
The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires, 

Where the White Hand of Moses on the Bough 
Puts out, and Jesus from the Ground suspires. 



156 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 V 

Iram indeed is gone with all its Rose, 

And Jamshyd's Sev'n-ring'd Cup where no one knows; 

But still the Vine her ancient Ruby yields, 
And still a Garden by the Water blows. 



1868 V 

Iram indeed is gone with all his Rose, 

And Jamshyd's Sev'n-ring'd Cup where no one knows ; 

But still a Ruby gushes from the Vine, 
And many a Garden by the Water blows. 



1872 V 

Iram indeed is gone with all his Rose, 

And Jamshyd's Sev'n-ring'd Cup where no one knows ; 

But still a Ruby gushes from the Vine, 
And many a Garden by the Water blows. 



1879 and 1889 V 

Iram indeed is gone with all his Rose, 

And Jamshyd's Sev'n-ring'd Cup where no one knows; 

But still a Ruby kindles in the Vine, 
And many a Garden by the Water blows. 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 157 



1859 VI 

And David's Lips are lock't ; but in divine 
High piping Pehlevi, with "Wine ! Wine ! Wine ! 

"Red Wine!" — the Nightingale cries to the Rose 
That yellow Cheek of her's to'incarnadine. 



1868 VI 

And David's lips are lockt ; but in divine 
High piping Pehlevi, with "Wine ! Wine ! Wine ! 

"Red Wine!" — the Nightingale cries to the Rose 
That sallow cheek of her's to incarnadine. 



1872 VI 

And David's lips are lockt ; but in divine 
High piping Pehlevi, with "Wine ! Wine ! Wine ! 

"Red Wine!" — the Nightingale cries to the Rose 
That sallow cheek of her's to' incarnadine. 



1879 and 1889 VI 

And David's lips are lockt; but in divine 
High-piping Pehlevi, with "Wine ! Wine ! Wine ! 

"Red Wine!" — the Nightingale cries to the Rose 
That sallow cheek of hers to' incarnadine. 



158 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 VII 

Come, fill the Cup, and in the Fire of Spring 
The Winter Garment of Repentance fling: 

The Bird of Time has but a little way 
To fly — and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing. 



:-v 



1868 VII 

Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring 
Your Winter-garment of Repentance fling: 

The Bird of Time "has but a little way 
To flutter — and the Bird is on the Wing. 



1872 VII 

Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring 
Your Winter-garment of Repentance fling: 

The Bird of Time has but a little way 
To flutter — and the Bird is on the Wing. 



1879 and 1889 VII 

Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring 
Your Winter-garment of Repentance fling: 

The Bird of Time has but a little way 
To flutter— and the Bird is on the Wing. 



* 






VARIATIONS IN TEXT 159 



1859 

[The quatrain printed below was not included in the 
first edition.'] 



1868 VIII 

Whether at Naishapur or Babylon, 
Whether the Gup with sweet or bitter run, 

The Wine of Life keeps oozing drop by drop, 
The Leaves of Life keep falling one by one. 



1872 VIII 

Whether at Naishapur or Babylon, 
Whether the Cup with sweet or bitter run, 

The Wine of Life keeps oozing drop by drop, 
The Leaves of Life keep falling one by one. 






1879 and 1889 VIII 



Whether at Naishapur or Babylon, 
Whether the Cup with sweet or bitter run, 

The Wine of Life keeps oozing drop by drop, 
The Leaves of Life keep falling one by one. 






160 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 VIII 

And look — a thousand Blossoms with the Day 
Woke — and a thousand scatter'd into Clay: 

And this first Summer Month that brings the Rose 
Shall take Jamshyd and Kaikobad away. 



1868 IX 

Morning a thousand Roses brings, you say; 
Yes, but where leaves the Rose of yesterday? 

And this first Summer month that brings the Rose 
Shall take Jamshyd and Kaikobad away. 



1872 IX 

Each Morn a thousand Roses brings, you say: 
Yes, but where leaves the Rose of Yesterday? 

And this first Summer month that brings the Rose 
Shall take Jamshyd and Kaikobad away. 



1879 and 1889 IX 

Each Morn a thousand Roses brings, you say: 
Yes, but where leaves the Rose of Yesterday? 

And this first Summer month that brings the Rose 
Shall take Jamshyd and Kaikobad away. 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 161 



1859 IX 

But come with old Khayyam, and leave the Lot 
Of Kaikobad and Kaikhosru forgot! 

Let Rustum lay about him as he will, 
Or Hatim Tai cry Supper — heed them not. 



1868 X 

Well, let it take them ! What have we to do 
With Kaikobad the Great, or Kaikhosru? 

Let Rustum cry "To Battle!" as he likes, 
Or Hatim Tai "To Supper!" — heed not you. 



1872 X 

Well, let it take them! What have we to do 
With Kaikobad the Great, or Kaikhosru? 

Let Zal and Rustum thunder as they will, 
Or Hatim call to Supper — heed not you. 



1879 and 1889 X 

Well, let it take them! What have we to do 
With Kaikobad the Great, or Kaikhosru? 

Let Zal and Rustum bluster as they will, 
Or Hatim call to Supper — heed not you. 



162 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 X 

With me along some Strip of Herbage strown 
That just divides the desert from the sown, 

Where name of Slave and Sultan scarce is known, 
And pity Sultan Mahmud on his Throne. 



1868 XI 

With me along the strip of Herbage strown 
That just divides the desert from the sown, 

Where name of Slave and Sultan is forgot — 
And Peace to Mahmud on his golden Throne ! 



1872 XI 

With me along the strip of Herbage strown 
That just divides the desert from the sown, 

Where name of Slave and Sultan is forgot — 
And Peace to Mahmud on his golden Throne! 



1879 and 1889 XI 

With me along the strip of Herbage strown 
That just divides the desert from the sown, 

Where name of Slave and Sultan is forgot — 
And Peace to Mahmud on his golden Throne! 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 163 



1859 XI 

Here with a Loaf of Bread Beneath the Bough, 
A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse — and Thou 

Beside me singing in the Wilderness — 
And Wilderness is Paradise enow. 



1868 XII 

Here with a little Bread beneath the Bough, 
A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse — and Thou 

Beside me singing in the Wilderness — 
Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow ! 



1872 XII 

A Book of Verses underneath the Bough, 
A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread — and Thou 

Beside me singing in the Wilderness — 
Oh. Wilderness were Paradise enow ! 



1879 and 1889 XII 

A Book of Verses underneath the Bough, 
A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread — and Thou 

Beside me singing in the Wilderness — 
Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow ! 



164 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 XII 

"How sweet is mortal Sovranty!" — think some: 
Others — "How blest the Paradise to come!" 

Ah, take the Cash in hand and wave the Rest; 
Oh, the brave Music of a distant Drum ! 



1868 XIII 

Some for the Glories of This World; and some 
Sigh for the Prophet's Paradise to come; 

Ah, take the Cash, and let the Promise go, 
Nor heed the music of a distant Drum! 



1872 XIII 

Some for the Glories of This World; and some 
Sigh for the Prophet's Paradise to come ; 

Ah, take the Cash, and let the Credit go, 
Nor heed the rumble of a distant Drum! 



1879 and 1889 XIII 

Some for the Glories of This World; and some 
Sigh for the Prophet's Paradise to come ; 

Ah, take the Cash, and let the Credit go, 
Nor heed the rumble of a distant Drum ! 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 165 



1859 XIII 

Look to the Rose that blows about us — "Lo, 
"Laughing," she says, "into the World I blow : 

"At once the silken Tassel of my Purse 
"Tear, and its Treasure on the Garden throw." 



1868 XV 

Look to the blowing Rose about us — "Lo, 
"Laughing," she says, "into the world I blow: 

"At once the silken tassel of my Purse 
"Tear, and its Treasure on the Garden throw." 



1872 XIV 

Look to the blowing Rose about us — Lo, 
"Laughing," she says, "into the world I blow, 

"At once the silken tassel of my Purse 
"Tear, and its Treasure on the Garden throw." 



1879 and 1889 XIV 

Look to the blowing Rose about us — "Lo, 
"Laughing," she says, "into the world I blow, 

"At once the silken tassel of my Purse 
"Tear, and its Treasure on the Garden throw." 



166 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 XV 

And those who husbanded the Golden Grain, 
And those who flung it to the Winds like Rain, 

Alike to no such aureate Earth are turn'd 
As, buried once, Men want dug up again. 



1868 XVI 

For those who husbanded the Golden grain, 
And those who flung it to the winds like Rain, 

Alike to no such aureate Earth are turn'd 
As, buried once, Men want dug up again. 



1872 XV 

And those who husbanded the Golden grain, 
And those who flung it to the winds like Rain, 

Alike to no such aureate Earth are turn'd 
As, buried once, Men want dug up again. 



1879 and 1889 XV 

And those who husbanded the Golden grain, 
And those who flung it to the winds like Rain, 

Alike to no such aureate Earth are turn'd 
As, buried once, Men want dug up again. 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 167 



1859 XIV 

The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon 
Turns Ashes — or it prospers; and anon, 

Like Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face 
Lighting a little Hour or two — is gone. 



1868 XVII 

The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon 
Turns Ashes — or it prospers ; and anon, 

Like Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face, 
Lighting a little hour or two — was gone. 



1872 XVI 

The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon 
Turns Ashes — or it prospers; and anon, 

Like Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face, 
Lighting a little hour or two — was gone. 



1879 and 1889 XVI 

The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon 
Turns Ashes — or it prospers ; and anon, 

Like Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face 
Lighting a little hour or two — is gone. 



168 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 XVI 

Think, in this batter'd Caravanserai 

Whose Doorways are alternate Night and Day, 

How Sultan after Sultan with his Pomp 
Abode His Hour or two, and went his way. 



1868 XVIII 

Think, in this batter'd Caravanserai 
Whose Portals are alternate Night and Day, 

How Sultan after Sultan with his Pomp 
Abode his destin'd Hour, and went his way. 



1872 XVII 

Think, in this batter'd Caravanserai 

Whose Portals are alternate Night and Day, 

How Sultan after Sultan with his Pomp 
Abode his destin'd Hour, and went his way. 



1879 and 1889 XVII 

Think, in this batter'd Caravanserai 

Whose Portals are alternate Night and Day, 

How Sultan after Sultan with his Pomp 
Abode his destined Hour, and went his way. 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 169 



1859 XVII 

They say the Lion and the Lizard keep 

The Courts where Jamshyd gloried and drank deep; 

And Bahram, that great Hunter — the Wild Ass 
Stamps o'er his Head, and he lies fast asleep. 



1868 XIX 

They say the Lion and the Lizard keep 

The Courts where Jamshyd gloried and drank deep 

And Bahram, that great Hunter — the Wild Ass 
Stamps o'er his Head, but cannot break his Sleep. 



1872 XVIII 

They say the Lion and the Lizard keep 

The Courts where Jamshyd gloried and drank deep 

And Bahram, that great Hunter — the Wild Ass 
Stamps o'er his Head, but cannot break his Sleep. 



1879 and 1889 XVIII 

They say the Lion and the Lizard keep 

The Courts where Jamshyd gloried and drank deep 

And Bahram, that great Hunter — the Wild Ass 
Stamps o'er his Head, but cannot break his Sleep. 



170 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 XVIII 

I sometimes think that never blows so red 
The Rose as where some buried Caesar bled; 

That every Hyacinth the Garden wears 
Dropt in its Lap from some once lovely Head. 



1868 XXIV 

I sometimes think that never blows so red 
The Rose as where some buried Caesar bled; 

That every Hyacinth the Garden wears 
Dropt in her Lap from some once lovely Head. 



1872 XIX 

I sometimes think that never blows so red 
The Rose as where some buried Caesar bled; 

That every Hyacinth the Garden wears 
Dropt in her Lap from some once lovely Head. 



1879 and 1889 XIX 

I sometimes think that never blows so red 
The Rose as where some buried Caesar bled; 

That every Hyacinth the Garden wears 
Dropt in her Lap from some once lovely Head. 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 171 



1859 XIX 

And this delightful Herb whose tender Green 
Fledges the River's Lip on which we lean — 

Ah, lean upon it lightly ! for who knows 
From what once lovely Lip it springs unseen! 



1868 XXV 

And this delightful Herb whose living Green 
Fledges the River's Lip on which we lean — 

Ah, lean upon it lightly! for who knows 
From what once lovely Lip it springs unseen ! 



1872 XX 

And this reviving Herb whose tender Green 
Fledges the River-Lip on which we lean — 
Ah, lean upon it lightly ! for who knows 
From what once lovely Lip it springs unseen! 



1879 and 1889 XX 

And this reviving Herb whose tender Green 
Fledges the River-Lip on which we lean — 
Ah, lean upon it lightly ! for who knows 
From what once lovely Lip it springs unseen ! 



172 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 XX 

Ah, my Beloved, fill the Cup that clears 
To-day of past Regrets and future Fears — 
To-morrow? — Why, To-morrow I may be 
Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n Thousand Years. 



1868 XXI 

Ah, my Beloved, fill the Cup that clears 
To-day of past Regrets and future Fears: 

To-morrow! — Why, To-morrow I may be 
Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n thousand Years. 



1872 XXI 

Ah, my Beloved, fill the Cup that clears 
To-day of past Regret and future Fears: 

To-morrow! — Why, To-morrow I may be 
Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n thousand Years. 



1879 and 1889 XXI 

Ah, my Beloved, fill the Cup that clears 
To-day of past Regrets and future Fears: 

To-morrow! — Why, To-morrow I may be 
Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n thousand Years. 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 173 



1859 XXI 

Lo! some we loved, the loveliest and best 
That Time and Fate of all their Vintage prest, 

Have drunk their Cup a Round or two before, 
And one by one crept silently to Rest. 



1868 XXII 

For some we loved, the loveliest and the best 
That from his Vintage rolling Time has prest, 

Have drunk their Cup a Round or two before, 
And one by one crept silently to rest. 



1872 XXII 

For some we loved, the loveliest and the best 
That from his Vintage rolling Time has prest, 
Have drunk their Cup a Round or two before, 
And one by one crept silently to rest. 



1879 and 1889 XXII 

For some we loved, the loveliest and the best 
That from his Vintage rolling Time hath prest, 
Have drunk their Cup a Round or two before, 
And one by one crept silently to rest. 



174 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 XXII 

And we, that now make merry in the Room 
They left, and Summer dresses in new Bloom, 

Ourselves must we beneath the Couch of Earth 
Descend, ourselves to make a Couch — for whom? 



1868 XXIII 

And we, that now make merry in the Room 
They left, and Summer dresses in new Bloom, 

Ourselves must we beneath the Couch of Earth 
Descend, ourselves to make a Couch — for whom? 



1872 XXIII 

And we, that now make merry in the Room 
They left, and Summer dresses in new bloom, 

Ourselves must we beneath the Couch of Earth 
Descend — ourselves to make a Couch — for whom? 



1879 and 1889 XXIII 

And we, that now make merry in the Room 
They left, and Summer dresses in new bloom, 

Ourselves must we beneath the Couch of Earth 
Descend — ourselves to make a Couch — for whom? 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 175 



1859 XXIII 

Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend, 
Before we too into the Dust descend; 

Dust into Dust, and under Dust, to lie, 
Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and — sans End! 



1868 XXVI 

Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend, 
Before we too into the Dust descend ; 

Dust into Dust, and under Dust, to lie, 
Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and — sans End! 



1872 XXIV 

Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend, 
Before we too into the Dust descend; 

Dust into Dust, and under Dust, to lie, 
Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and — sans End! 



1879 and 1889 XXIV 

Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend, 
Before we too into the Dust descend ; 

Dust into Dust, and under Dust to lie, 
Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and — sans End ! 



176 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 XXIV 

Alike for those who for To-day prepare, 
And those that after a To-morrow stare, 

A Muezzin from the Tower of Darkness cries 
"Fools ! your Reward is neither Here nor There !" 



1868 XXVII 

Alike for those who for To-day prepare, 
And those that after some To-morrow stare, 

A Muezzin from the Tower of Darkness cries, 
"Fools ! your Reward is neither Here nor There !" 



1872 XXV 

Alike for those who for To-day prepare, 
And those that after some To-morrow stare, 

A Muezzin from the Tower of Darkness cries, 
"Fools ! your Reward is neither Here nor There." 



1879 and 1889 XXV 

Alike for those who for To-day prepare, 
And those that after some To-morrow stare, 

A Muezzin from the Tower of Darkness cries, 
"Fools ! your Reward is neither Here nor There." 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 177 



1859 XXV 

Why, all the Saints and Sages who discuss'd 
Of the Two Worlds so learnedly, are thrust 

Like foolish Prophets forth ; their Words to Scorn 
Are scatter'd, and their Mouths are stopt with Dust. 



1868 XXIX 

Why, all the Saints and Sages who discuss'd 
Of the Two Worlds so learnedly are thrust 

Like foolish Prophets forth ; their Words to Scorn 
Are scatter'd, and their Mouths are stopt with Dust. 



1872 XXVI 

Why, all the Saints and Sages who discuss'd 
Of the Two Worlds so learnedly are thrust 

Like foolish Prophets forth ; their Words to Scorn 
Are scatter'd, and their Mouths are stopt with Dust. 



1879 and 1889 XXVI 

Why, all the Saints and Sages who discuss'd 
Of the Two Worlds so wisely — they are thrust 

Like foolish Prophets forth ; their Words to Scorn 
Are scatter'd, and their Mouths are stopt with Dust. 



173 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 XXVII 

Myself when young did eagerly frequent 
Doctor and Saint, and heard great Argument 

About it and about : but evermore 
Came out by the same Door as in I went. 



1868 XXX 

Myself when young did eagerly frequent 
Doctor and Saint, and heard great argument 

About it and about : but evermore 
Came out by the same door as in I went. 



1872 XXVII 

Myself when young did eagerly frequent 
Doctor and Saint, and heard great argument 

About it and about: but evermore 
Came out by the same door where in I went. 



1879 and 1889 XXVII 

Myself when young did eagerly frequent 
Doctor and Saint, and heard great argument 

About it and about: but evermore 
Came out by the same door where in I went. 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 179 



1859 XXVIII 

With them the Seed of Wisdom did I sow, 
And with my own hand labour'd it to grow: 

And this was all the Harvest that I reap'd — 
"I came like Water, and like Wind I go." 



1868 XXXI 

With them the seed of Wisdom did I sow, 

And with my own hand wrought to make it grow : 

And this was all the Harvest that I reap'd — 
"I came like Water, and like Wind I go." 



1872 XXVIII 

With them the seed of Wisdom did I sow, 

And with my own hand wrought to make it grow ; 

And this was all the Harvest that I reap'd — 
"I came like Water, and like Wind I go." 



1879 and 1889 XXVIII 

With them the seed of Wisdom did I sow, 

And with mine own hand wrought to make it grow ; 

And this was all the Harvest that I reap'd — 
"I came like Water, and like Wind I go." 



180 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 XXIX 

Into this Universe, and Why not knowing, 
Nor whence, like Water willy-nilly flowing: 
And out of it, as Wind along the Waste, 
I know not whither, willy-nilly blowing. 



1868 XXXII 

Into this Universe, and Why not knowing, 
Nor Whence, like Water willy-nilly flowing 
And out of it, as Wind along the Waste, 
I know not Whither, willy-nilly blowing. 



1872 XXIX 

Into this Universe, and Why not knowing, 
Nor Whence, like Water willy-nilly flowing; 

And out of it, as Wind along the Waste, 
I know not Whither, willy-nilly blowing. 



1879 and 1889 XXIX 

Into this Universe, and Why not knowing 
Nor Whence, like Water willy-nilly flowing; 

And out of it, as Wind along the Waste, 
I know not Whither, willy-nilly blowing. 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 181 



1859 XXX 

What, without asking, hither hurried whence? 
And, without asking, whither hurried hence ! 

Another and another Cup to drown 
The Memory of this Impertinence! 



1868 XXXIII 

What, without asking, hither hurried Whence? 
And, without asking, Whither hurried hence! 

Ah, contrite Heav'n endowed us with the Vine 
To drug the memory of that insolence ! 



1872 XXX 

What, without asking, hither hurried Whence? 
And, without asking, Whither hurried hence ! 

Oh, many a Cup of this forbidden Wine 
Must drown the memory of that insolence ! 



1879 and 1889 XXX 

What, without asking, hither hurried Whence. 
And, without asking, Whither hurried hence! 

Oh, many a Cup of this forbidden Wine 
Must drown the memory of that insolence ! 



182 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 XXXI 

Up from Earth's Centre through the Seventh Gate 
I rose, and on the Throne of Saturn sate, 

And many Knots unravel'd by the Road; 
But not the Knot of Human Death and Fate. 



1868 XXXIV 

Up from Earth's Centre through the Seventh Gate 
I rose, and on the Throne of Saturn sate, 

And many Knots unravel'd by the Road; 
But not the Master-Knot of Human Fate. 



1872 XXXI 

Up from Earth's Centre through the Seventh Gate 
I rose, and on the Throne of Saturn sate, 

And many a Knot unravel'd by the Road; 
But not the Master-knot of Human Fate. 



1879 and 1889 XXXI 

Up from Earth's Centre through the Seventh Gate 
I rose, and on the Throne of Saturn sate, 

And many a Knot unravel'd by the Road; 
But not the Master-knot of Human Fate. 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 183 



1859 XXXII 

There was a Door to which I found no Key: 
There was a Veil past which I could not see: 

Some little Talk awhile of Me and Thee 
There seem'd — and then no more of Thee and Me. 



1868 XXXV 

There was the Door to which I found no Key: 
There was the Veil through which I could not see 

Some little talk awhile of Me and Thee 
There was — and then no more of Thee and Me. 



1872 XXXII 

There was the Door to which I found no Key; 
There was the Veil through which I could not see 

Some little talk awhile of Me and Thee 
There was — and then no more of Thee and Me. 



1879 and 1889 XXXII 

There was the Door to which I found no Key ; 
There was the Veil through which I might not see: 

Some little talk awhile of Me and Thee 
There was — and then no more of Thee and Me. 



184 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 

[The quatrain printed below was not included in the 
first edition.] 



1868 XXXVI 

Earth could not answer ; nor the Seas that mourn 
In flowing Purple, of their Lord forlorn; 

Nor Heav'n, with those eternal Signs reveal'd 
And hidden by the sleeve of Night and Morn. 



1872 XXXIII 

Earth could not answer; nor the Seas that mourn 
In flowing Purple, of their Lord forlorn; 

Nor rolling Heaven, with all his Signs reveal'd 
And hidden by the sleeve of Night and Morn. 



1879 and 1889 XXXIII 

Earth could not answer; nor the Seas that mourn 
In flowing Purple, of their Lord forlorn; 

Nor rolling Heaven, with all his Signs reveal'd 
And hidden by the sleeve of Night and Morn. 



VARIATIONS IN .TEXT 185 



1859 XXXIII 

Then to the rolling Heav'n itself I cried, 
Asking, "What Lamp had Destiny to guide 

"Her little Children stumbling in the Dark?" 
And — "A blind Understanding!" Heav'n replied. 



1868 XXXVII 

Then of the Thee in Me who works behind 
The Veil of Universe I cried to find 

A Lamp to guide me through the Darkness ; and 
Something then said — "An Understanding blind.' 



1872 XXXIV 

Then of the Thee in Me who works behind 
The Veil, I lifted up my hands to find 

A Lamp amid the Darkness ; and I heard, 
As from Without — "The Me within Thee blind 



1879 and 1889 XXXIV 

Then of the Thee in Me who works behind 
The Veil, I lifted up my hands to find 

A lamp amid the Darkness ; and I heard, 
As from Without — "The Me within Thee blind!" 



186 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 XXXIV 

Then to this earthen Bowl did I adjourn 
My Lip the secret Well of Life to learn : 

And Lip to Lip it murmur'd — "While you live 
"Drink! — for once dead you never shall return." 



1868 XXXVIII 

Then to the Lip of this poor earthen Urn 
I lean'd, the secret Well of Life to learn: 

And Lip to Lip it murmur'd — "While you live, 
"Drink!- — for, once dead, you never shall return." 



1872 XXXV 

Then to the Lip of this poor earthen Urn 
I lean'd, the Secret of my Life to learn : 

And Lip to Lip it murmur'd — "While you live, 
"Drink! — for, once dead, you never shall return." 



1879 and 1889 XXXV 

Then to the Lip of this poor earthen Urn 
I lean'd, the Secret of my Life to learn : 

And Lip to Lip it murmur'd — "While you live, 
"Drink! — for, once dead, you never shall return." 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 187 



1859 XXXV 

I think the Vessel, that with fugitive 
Articulation answer'd, once did live, 

And merry-make ; and the cold Lip I kiss'd 
How many Kisses might it take — and givel 



1868 XXXIX 

I think the Vessel, that with fugitive 
Articulation answer'd, once did live, 

And drink; and that impassive Lip I kiss'd, 
How many Kisses might it take — and give ! 



1872 XXXVI 

I think the Vessel, that with fugitive 
Articulation answer'd, once did live, 

And drink ; and Ah ! the passive Lip I kiss'd, 
How many Kisses might it take — and give ! 



1879 and 1889 XXXVI 

I think the Vessel, that with fugitive 
Articulation answer'd, once did live, 

And drink ; and Ah ! the passive Lip I kiss'd, 
How many Kisses might it take — and give ! 



188 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 XXXVI 

For in the Market-place, one Dusk of Day, 
I watch'd the Potter thumping his wet Clay 

And with its all obliterated Tongue 
It murmur'd — "Gently, Brother, gently, pray!" 



1868 XL 

For I remember stopping by the way 

To watch a Potter thumping his wet Clay: 

And with its all-obliterated Tongue 
It murmur'd — "Gently, Brother, gently, pray!" 



1872 XXXVII 

For I remember stopping by the way 

To watch a Potter thumping his wet Clay, 

And with its all-obliterated Tongue 
It murmur'd — "Gently, Brother, gently, pray?' 



1879 and 1889 XXXVII 

For I remember stopping by the way 

To watch a Potter thumping his wet Clay: 

And with its all-obliterated Tongue 
It murmur'd — "Gently, Brother, gently, pray !" 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 189 



[The quatrain printed below was not included in the 
first edition.] 



1868 XLI 

For has not such a Story from of Old 
Down Man's successive generations roll'd 

Of such a clod of saturated Earth 
Cast by the Maker into Human mould? 



1872 XXXVIII 

Listen — a moment listen! — Of the same 
Poor Earth from which that Human Whisper came 
The luckless Mould in which Mankind was cast 
They did compose, and call'd him by the name. 



1879 and 1889 XXXVIII 

And has not such a Story from of Old 
Down Man's successive generations roll'd 

Of such a clod of saturated Earth 
Cast by the Maker into Human mould? 



a r 



190 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 

[The quatrain printed below was not included in the 
first edition.] 



1868 XLII 

And not a drop that from our Cups we throw 
On the parcht herbage but may steal below 

To quench the fire of Anguish in some Eye 
There hidden — far beneath, and long ago. 



1872 XXXIX 

And not a drop that from our Cups we throw 
For Earth to drink of, but may steal below 

To quench the fire of Anguish in some Eye 
There hidden — far beneath, and long ago. 



1879 and 1889 XXXIX 

And not a drop that from our Cups we throw 
For Earth to drink of, but may steal below 

To quench the fire of Anguish in some Eye 
There hidden — far beneath, and long ago. 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 191 



1859 

[The quatrain printed below was not included in the 
first edition.] 



1868 XLIII 

As then the Tulip for her wonted sup 
Of Heavenly Vintage lifts her chalice up, 

Do you, twin offspring of the soil, till Heav'n 
To Earth invert you like an empty Cup. 



1872 XL 

As then the Tulip for her morning sup 

Of Heav'nly Vintage from the soil looks up, 

Do you devoutly do the like, till Heav'n 
To Earth invert you like an empty Cup. 



1879 and 1889 XL 

As then the Tulip for her morning sup 
Of Heav'nly Vintage from the soil looks up, 
Do you devoutly do the like, till Heav'n 
To Earth invert you — like an empty Cup. 



192 RUB^IYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 

[The quatrain printed below was not included in the 
first edition.] 



1868 LV 

Oh, plagued no more with Human or Divine, 
To-morrow's tangle to itself resign, 

And lose your fingers in the tresses of 
The Cypress-slender Minister of Wine. 



1872 XLI 

Perplext no more with Human or Divine, 
To-morrow's tangle to the winds resign, 

And lose your fingers in the tresses of 
The Cypress-slender Minister of Wine. 



1879 and 1889 XLI 

Perplext no more with Human or Divine, 
To-morrow's tangle to the winds resign, 
And lose your fingers in the tresses of 
The Cypress-slender Minister of Wine, 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 193 



1859 XLVII 

And if the Wine you drink, the Lip you press, 
End in the Nothing all Things end in — Yes — 

Then fancy while Thou art, Thou art but what 
Thou shalt be — Nothing — Thou shalt not be less. 



1868 XLV 

And if the Cup you drink, the Lip you press, 
End in what All begins and ends in — Yes ; 

Imagine then you are what heretofore 
You were — hereafter you shall not be less. 



1872 XLII 

And if the Wine you drink, the Lip you press, 
End in what All begins and ends in — Yes; 

Think then you are To-day what Yesterday 
You were — To-morrow you shall not be less. 



1879 and 1889 XLII 

And if the Wine you drink, the Lip you press, 
End in what All begins and ends in — Yes; 

Think then you are To-day what Yesterday 
You were — To-morrow you shall not be less. 



194 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 XLVIII 

While the Rose blows along the River Brink, 
With old Khayyam the Ruby Vintage drink: 

And when the Angel with his darker Draught 
Draws up to Thee — take that, and do not shrink. 



1868 XLVI 

So when at last the Angel of the drink 
Of Darkness finds you by the river-brink, 

And, proffering his Cup, invites your Soul 
Forth to your Lips to quaff it — do not shrink. 



1872 XLIII 

So when the Angel of the darker Drink 
At last shall find you by the river-brink, 

And, offering his Cup, invite your Soul 
Forth to your Lips to quaff — you shall not shrink. 



1879 and 1889 XLIII 

So when that Angel of the darker Drink 
At last shall find you by the river-brink, 

And, offering his Cup, invite your Soul 
Forth to your Lips to quaff — you shall not shrink. 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 195 



1859 From Preface to First Edition 

Oh, if my Soul can fling his Dust aside, 
And naked on the Air of Heaven ride, 

Is't not a Shame, is't not a Shame for Him 
So long in this Clay Suburb to abide! 



1868 LXIX 

Why, if the Soul can fling the Dust aside, 
And naked on the Air of Heaven ride, 

Is't not a shame — is't not a shame for him 
So long in this Clay suburb to abide? 



1872 XLIV 

Why, if the Soul can fling the Dust aside, 
And naked on the Air of Heaven ride, 

Wer't not a Shame — wer't not a Shame for him 
In this clay carcase crippled to abide? 



1879 and 1889 XLIV 

Why, if the Soul can fling the Dust aside, 
And naked on the Air of Heaven ride, 

Were't not a Shame — were't not a Shame for him 
In this clay carcase crippled to abide? 



196 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 From Preface to First Edition 

Or is that but a Tent, where rests anon 
A Sultan to his Kingdom passing on, 

And which the swarthy Chamberlain shall Strike 
Then when the Sultan rises to be gone? 



1868 LXX 

But that is but a Tent wherein may rest 
A Sultan to the realm of Death addrest; 
The Sultan rises, and the dark Ferrash 
Strikes, and prepares it for another guest. 



1872 XLV 

'Tis but a Tent where takes his one-day's rest 
A Sultan to the realm of Death addrest ; 
The Sultan rises, and the dark Ferrash 
Strikes, and prepares it for another Guest. 



1879 and 1889 XLV 

'Tis but a Tent where takes his one day's rest 
A Sultan to the realm of Death addrest ; 
The Sultan rises, and the dark Ferrash 
Strikes, and prepares it for another Guest. 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 197 



1859 

[The quatrain printed below was not included in the 
first edition.] 



1868 XLVII 

And fear not lest Existence closing your 
Account, should lose, or know the type no more ; 

The Eternal Saki from that Bowl has pour'd 
Millions of Bubbles like us, and will pour. 



1872 XLVI 

And fear not lest Existence closing your 

Account, and mine, should know the like no more; 

The Eternal Saki from that Bowl has pour'd 
Millions of Bubbles like us, and will pour. 



1879 and 1889 XLVI 

And fear not lest Existence closing your 

Account, and mine, should know the like no more; 

The Eternal Saki from that Bowl has pour'd 
Millions of Bubbles like us, and will pour. 



198 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 

[The quatrain Printed below was not included in the 
first edition.'] 



1868 XLVIII 

When You and I behind the Veil are past, 

Oh but the long long while the World shall last, 

Which of our Coming and Departure heeds 
As much as Ocean of a pebble-cast. 



1872 XLVII 

When You and I behind the Veil are past, 

Oh but the long, long while the World shall last, 

Which of our Coming and Departure heeds 
As the Sev'n Seas should heed a pebble-cast. 



1879 and 1889 XLVII 

When You and I behind the Veil are past, 

Oh, but the long, long while the World shall last, 

Which of our Coming and Departure heeds 
As the Sea's self should heed a pebble-cast. 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 199 



1859 XXXVIII 

One Moment in Annihilation's Waste, 
One Moment, of the Well of Life to taste — 

The Stars are setting and the Caravan 
Starts for the Dawn of Nothing — Oh, make haste ! 



1868 XLIX 

One Moment in Annihilation's Waste, 
One Moment, of the Well of Life to taste — 

The Stars are setting, and the Caravan 
Draws to the Dawn of Nothing — Oh make haste ! 



1872 XLVIII 

A Moment's Halt — a momentary taste 

Of Being from the Well amid the Waste — 

And Lo ! — the phantom Caravan has reach'd 
The Nothing it set out from — Oh, make haste! 



1879 and 1889 XLVIII 

A Moment's Halt — a momentary taste 

Of Being from the Well amid the Waste — 

And Lo! — the phantom Caravan has reach'd 
The Nothing it set out from — Oh, make haste! 



200 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 

[The quatrain printed below was not included in the 
first edition.] 



1868 L 

Would you that spangle of Existence spend 
About the secret — quick about it, Friend ! 

A Hair, they say, divides the False and True — 
And upon what, prithee, does Life depend? 



1872 XLIX 

Would you that spangle of Existence spend 
About the secret — quick about it, Friend! 

A Hair perhaps divides the False and True — 
And upon what, prithee, does Life depend? 



1879 and 1889 XLIX 

Would you that spangle of Existence spend 
About the secret — quick about it, Friend! 

A Hair perhaps divides the False and True— 
And upon what, prithee, may life depend? 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 201 



1859 

[The quatrain printed below was not included in the 
first edition.] 



1868 LI 

A Hair, they say, divides the False and True; 
Yes ; and a single Alif were the Clue, 

Could you but find it, to the Treasure-house, 
And peradventure to The Master too; 



1872 L 

A Hair perhaps divides the False and True ; 
Yes ; and a single Alif were the clue — 

Could you but find it — to the Treasure-house, 
And peradventure to The Master too; 



1879 and 1889 L 

A Hair perhaps divides the False and True, 
Yes ; and a single Alif were the clue- — 

Could you but find it — to the Treasure-house, 
And peradventure to The Master too ; 



202 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 

[The quatrain printed below was not included in the 
first edition.] 



1868 LII 

Whose secret Presence, through Creation's veins 
Running, Quicksilver-like eludes your pains: 

Taking all shapes from Mah to Mahi ; and 
They change and perish all — but He remains; 



1872 LI 

Whose secret Presence, through Creation's veins 
Running Quicksilver-like eludes your pains; 

Taking all shapes from Mah to Mahi; and 
They change and perish all — but He remains; 



1879 and 1889 LI 

Whose secret Presence, through Creation's veins 
Running Quicksilver-like eludes your pains; 

Taking all shapes from Mah to Mahi ; and 
They change and perish all — but He remains; 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 203 



1859 

[The quatrain printed below was not included in the 
first edition.] 



1868 LIII 

A moment guess'd — then back behind the Fold 
Immerst of Darkness round the Drama roll'd 

Which, for the Pastime of Eternity, 
He does Himself contrive, enact, behold. 



1872 LII 

A moment guess'd — then back behind the Fold 
Immerst of Darkness round the Drama roll'd 

Which, for the Pastime of Eternity, 
He does Himself contrive, enact, behold. 



1879 and 1889 LII 

A moment guess'd — then back behind the Fold 
Immerst of Darkness round the Drama roll'd 

Which, for the Pastime of Eternity, 
He doth Himself contrive, enact, behold. 



204 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 

[The quatrain printed below was not included in the 
first edition.] 



1868 LIV 

But if in vain, down on the stubborn floor 
Of Earth, and up to Heav'n's unopening Door, 

You gaze To-day, while You are You — how then 
To-morrow, You when shall be You no more? 



1872 LIII 

But if in vain, down on the stubborn floor 
Of Earth, and up to Heav'n's unopening Door, 

You gaze To-day, while You are You — how then 
To-morrow, You when shall be You no more? 



1879 and 1889 LIII 

But if in vain, down on the stubborn floor 

Of Earth, and up to Heav'n's unopening Door, 

You gaze To-day, while You are You — how then 
To-morrow, when You shall be You no more? 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 205 



1859 XXXIX 

How long, how long, in infinite Pursuit 
Of This and That endeavour and dispute? 
Better be merry with the fruitful Grape 
That sadden after none, or bitter, Fruit. 



1868 LVI 

Waste not your Hour, nor in the vain pursuit 
Of This and That endeavour and dispute ; 

Better be merry with the fruitful Grape 
Than sadden after none, or bitter, Fruit. 



1872 LIV 

Waste not your Hour, nor in the vain pursuit 
Of This and That endeavour and dispute; 
Better be jocund with the fruitful Grape 
Than sadden after none, or bitter, Fruit. 



1879 and 1889 LIV 

Waste not your Hour, nor in the vain pursuit 
Of This and That endeavour and dispute; 
Better be jocund with the fruitful Grape 
Jhan sadden after none, or bitter, Fruit. 



206 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 XL 

You know, my Friends, how long since in my House 
For a new Marriage I did make Carouse: 
Divorced old barren Reason from my Bed, 
And took the Daughter of the Vine to Spouse. 



1868 LVII 

You know, my Friends, how bravely in my House 
For a new Marriage I did make Carouse: 

Divorced old barren Reason from my Bed, 
And took the Daughter of the Vine to Spouse. 



1872 LV 

You know, my Friends, with what a brave Carouse 
I made a Second Marriage in my house; 

Divorced old barren Reason from my Bed, 
And took the Daughter of the Vine to Spouse. 



1879 and 1889 LV 

You know, my Friends, with what a brave Carouse 
I made a Second Marriage in my house ; 

Divorced old barren Reason from my Bed, 
And took the Daughter of the Vine to Spouse. 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 207 



1859 XLI 

For "Is" and "Is-not" though with Rule and Line, 
And "Up-and-down" without, I could define 
I yet in all I only cared to know, 

Was never deep in anything but — Wine. 



1868 LVIII 

For "Is" and "Is-not" though with Rule and Line, 
And "Up-and-down" by Logic I define, 

Of all that one should care to fathom, I 
Was never deep in anything but — Wine. 



1872 LVI 

For "Is" and "Is-not" though with Rule and Line, 
And "Up-and-down" by Logic I define 

Of all that one should care to fathom, I 
Was never deep in anything but — Wine. 



1879 and 1889 LVI 

For "Is" and "Is-not" though with Rule and Line 
And "Up-and-down" by Logic I define, 

Of all that one should care to fathom, I 
Was never deep in anything but — Wine. 



208 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 XXXVII 

Ah, fill the Cup: — what boots it to repeat 
How Time is slipping underneath our Feet: 
Unborn To-morrow, and dead Yesterday, 
Why fret about them if To-day be sweet ! 



1868 LIX 

Ah, but my Computations, People say, 

Have squared the Year to human compass, eh? 

If so, by striking from the Calendar 
Unborn To-morrow and dead Yesterday. 



1872 LVII 

Ah, but my Computations, People say, 
Reduced the Year to better reckoning?- — Nay, 

'Twas only striking from the Calendar 
Unborn To-morrow, and dead Yesterday. 



1879 and 1889 LVII 

Ah, but my Computations, People say, 
Reduced the Year to better reckoning? — Nay, 

'Twas only striking from the Calendar 
Unborn To-morrow and dead Yesterday. 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 209 



1859 XLII 

And lately, by the Tavern Door agape, 

Came stealing through the Dusk an Angel Shape 

Bearing a Vessel on his Shoulder; and 
He bid me taste of it; and 'twas — the Grape! 



1868 LX 

And lately, by the Tavern Door agape, 

Came shining through the Dusk an Angel Shape 

Bearing a Vessel on his Shoulder ; and 
He bid me taste of it ; and 'twas — the Grape ! 



1872 LVIII 

And lately, by the Tavern Door agape, 

Came shining through the Dusk an Angel Shape 

Bearing a Vessel on his Shoulder ; and 
He bid me taste of it ; and 'twas — the Grape ! 



1879 and 1889 LVIII 

And lately, by the Tavern Door agape, 

Came shining through the Dusk an Angel Shape 

Bearing a Vessel on his Shoulder; and 
He bid me taste of it ; and 'twas — the Grape ! 



210 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 XLIII 

The Grape that can with Logic absolute 
The Two-and-Seventy jarring Sects confute: 

The subtle Alchemist that in a Trice 
Life's leaden Metal into Gold transmute. 



1868 LXI 

The Grape that can with Logic absolute 
The Two-and-Seventy jarring Sects confute 

The sovereign Alchemist that in a trice 
Life's leaden metal into Gold transmute: 



1872 LIX 

The Grape that can with Logic absolute 
The Two-and-Seventy jarring Sects confute 

The sovereign Alchemist that in a trice 
Life's leaden metal into Gold transmute: 



1879 and 1889 LIX 

The Grape that can with Logic absolute 
The Two-and-Seventy jarring Sects confute 

The sovereign Alchemist that in a trice 
Life's leaden metal into Gold transmute: 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 211 



1859 XLIV 

The mighty Mahmud, the victorious Lord, 
That all the misbelieving and black Horde 

Of Fears and Sorrows that infest the Soul 
Scatters and slays with his enchanted Sword. 



1868 LXII 

The mighty Mahmud, Allah-breathing Lord, 
That all the misbelieving and black Horde 

Of Fears and Sorrows that infest the Soul 
Scatters before him with his whirlwind Sword. 



1872 LX 

The mighty Mahmud, Allah-breathing Lord, 
That all the misbelieving and black Horde 

Of Fears and Sorrows that infest the Soul 
Scatters before him with his whirlwind Sword. 



1879 and 1889 LX 

The mighty Mahmud, Allah-breathing Lord, 
That all the misbelieving and black Horde 

Of Fears and Sorrows that infest the Soul 
Scatters before him with his whirlwind Sword. 



212 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 

[The quatrain printed below was not included in the 
first edition, ,] 



1868 LXIII 

Why, be this Juice the growth of God, who dare 
Blaspheme the twisted tendril as a Snare? 

A Blessing, we should use it, should we not? 
And if a Curse — why, then, Who set it there? 



1872 LXI 

Why, be this Juice the growth of God, who dare 
Blaspheme the twisted tendril as a Snare? 

A Blessing, we should use it, should we not? 
And if a Curse — why, then, Who set it there? 



1879 and 1889 LXI 

Why, be this Juice the growth of God, who dare 
Blaspheme the twisted tendril as a Snare? 

A Blessing, we should use it, should we not? 
And if a Curse — why, then, Who set it there? 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 213 



1859 

[The quatrain printed below was not included in the 
first edition.] 



1868 LXIV 

I must abjure the Balm of Life, I must, 
Scared by some After-reckoning ta'en on trust, 

Or lured with Hope of some Diviner Drink, 
When the frail Cup is crumbled into Dust! 



1872 LXII 

I must abjure the Balm of Life, I must, 
Scared by some After-reckoning ta'en on trust, 
Or lured with Hope of some Diviner Drink, 
To fill the Cup — when crumbled into Dust ! 



1879 and 1889 LXII 

I must abjure the Balm of Life, I must, 
Scared by some After-reckoning ta'en on trust, 
Or lured with Hope of some Diviner Drink, 
To fill the Cup — when crumbled into Dust ! 



214 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 XXVI 

Oh, come with old Khayyam, and leave the Wise 
To talk ; one thing is certain, that Life flies ; 

One thing is certain, and the Rest is Lies ; 
The Flower that once has blown for ever dies. 



1868 LXVI 

Oh threats of Hell and Hopes of Paradise ! 
One thing at least is certain — This Life flies : 

One thing is certain and the rest is lies ; 
The Flower that once is blown for ever dies. 



1872 LXIII 

Oh threats of Hell and Hopes of Paradise! 
One thing at least is certain — This Life flies; 

One thing is certain and the rest is Lies; 
The Flower that once has blown for ever dies. 



1879 and 1889 LXIII 

Oh threats of Hell and Hopes of Paradise! 
One thing at least is certain — This Life flies; 

One thing is certain and the rest is Lies ; 
The Flower that once has blown for ever dies. 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 215 



1359 

[The quatrain printed below was not included in the 
first edition.] 



1868 LXVII 

Strange, is it not? that of the myriads who 
Before us pass'd the door of Darkness through 

Not one returns to tell us of the Road, 
Which to discover we must travel too. 



1872 LXIV 

Strange, is it not? that of the myriads who 
Before us pass'd the door of Darkness through, 

Not one returns to tell us of the Road, 
Which to discover we must travel too. 



1879 and 1889 LXIV 

Strange, is it not? that of the myriads who 
Before us pass'd the door of Darkness through, 

Not one returns to tell us of the Road, 
Which to discover we must travel too. 



216 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 



[The quatrain printed below was not included in the 
first edition.] 



1868 LXVIII 

The Revelations of Devout and Learn'd 
Who rose before us, and as Prophets burn'd, 

Are all but Stories, which, awoke from Sleep 
They told their fellows, and to Sleep return'd. 



1872 LXV 

The Revelations of Devout and Learn'd 
Who rose before us, and as Prophets burn'd, 

Are all but Stories, which, awoke from Sleep 
They told their fellows, and to Sleep return'd. 



1879 and 1889 LXV 

The Revelations of Devout and Learn'd 

Who rose before us, and as Prophets burn'd, 

Are all but Stories, which, awoke from Sleep 
They told their comrades, and to Sleep return'd. 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 217 



1859 

[The quatrain printed below was not included in the 
first edition.] 



1868 LXXI 

I sent my Soul through the Invisible, 
Some letter of that After-life to spell : 

And after many days my Soul return'd 
And said, "Behold, Myself am Heav'n and Hell 



1872 LXVI 

I sent my Soul through the Invisible, 
Some letter of that After-life to spell : 

And by and by my Soul return'd to me, 
And answer'd "I Myself am Heav'n and Hell:" 



1879 and 1889 LXVI 

I sent my Soul through the Invisible, 
Some letter of that After-life to spell : 

And by and by my Soul return'd to me, 
And answer'd "I Myself am Heav'n and Hell:" 



218 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 

[The quatrain printed below was not included in the 
first edition.] 



1868 LXXII 

Heav'n but the Vision of fulfill'd Desire, 
And Hell the Shadow of a Soul on fire, 

Cast on the Darkness into which Ourselves, 
So late emerg'd from, shall so soon expire. 



1872 LXVII 

Heav'n but the Vision of fulfill'd Desire, 
And Hell the Shadow of a Soul on fire, 

Cast on the Darkness into which Ourselves, 
So late emerg'd from, shall so soon expire. 



1879 and 1889 LXVII 

Heav'n but the Vision of fulfill'd Desire, 
And Hell the Shadow from a Soul on fire, 

Cast on the Darkness into which Ourselves, 
So late emerged from, shall so soon expire. 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 219 



1859 XLVI 

For in and out, above, about, below, 
'Tis nothing but a Magic Shadow-show, 

Play'd in a Box whose Candle is the Sun, 
Round which we Phantom Figures come and go. 



1868 LXXIII 

We are no other than a moving row 
Of visionary Shapes that come and go 

Round with this Sun-illumin'd Lantern held 
In Midnight by the Master of the Show; 



1872 LXVIII 

We are no other than a moving row 

Of Magic Shadow-shapes that come and go 

Round with the Sun-illumin'd Lantern held 
In Midnight by the Master of the Show ; 



1879 and 1889 LXVIII 

We are no other than a moving row 

Of Magic Shadow-shapes that come and go 

Round with the Sunrillumined Lantern held 
In Midnight by the Master of the Show ; 



220 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 XLIX 

'Tis all a Chequer-board of Nights and Days 
Where Destiny with Men for Pieces plays: 

Hither and thither moves, and mates, and slays, 
And one by one back in the Closet lays. 



1868 LXXIV 

Impotent Pieces of the Game He plays 
Upon this Chequer-board of Nights and Days; 

Hither and thither moves, and checks, and slays ; 
And one by one back in the Closet lays. 



1872 LXIX 

Impotent Pieces of the Game He plays 
Upon this Chequer-board of Nights and Days ; 

Hither and thither moves, and checks, and slays, 
And one by one back in the Closet lays. 



1879 and 1889 LXIX 

But helpless Pieces of the Game He plays 
Upon this Chequer-board of Nights and Days ; 

Hither and thither moves, and checks, and slays, 
And one by one back in the Closet lays, 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 221 



1859 L 

The Ball no Question makes of Ayes and Noes, 
But Right or Left, as strikes the Player goes ; 

And He that toss'd Thee down into the Field, 
He knows about it all — He knows — HE knows ! 



1868 LXXV 

The Ball no Question makes of Ayes and Noes, 
But Right or Left as strikes the Player goes 
And He that toss'd you down into the Field, 
He knows about it all — he knows — HE knows! 



1872 LXX 

The Ball no question makes of Ayes and Noes, 
But Right or Left as strikes the Player goes ; 

And He that toss'd you down into the Field, 
He knows about it all — he knows — HE knows ! 



1879 and 1889 LXX 

The Ball no question makes of Ayes and Noes, 
But Here or There as strikes the Player goes ; 
And He that toss'd you down into the Field, 
He knows about it all— he knows- — HE knows! 



222 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 LI 

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, 
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit 

Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, 
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it. 



1868 LXXVI 

The Moving Finger writes ; and, having writ, 
Moves on : nor all your Piety nor Wit 

Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, 
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it. 



1872 LXXI 

The Moving Finger writes ; and, having writ, 
Moves on: nor all your Piety and Wit 
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, 
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it. 



1879 and 1889 LXXI 

The Moving Finger writes ; and, having writ, 
Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit 

Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, 
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it. 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 223 



1859 LII 

And that inverted Bowl we call The Sky, 
Whereunder crawling coop't we live and die, 

Lift not thy hands to It for help — for It 
Rolls impotently on as Thou or I. 



1868 LXXVIII 

And that inverted Bowl we call The Sky, 
Whereunder crawling coop'd we live and die, 

Lift not your hands to It for help — for it 
As impotently rolls as you or I. 



1872 LXXII 

And that inverted Bowl they call the Sky, 
Whereunder crawling coop'd we live and die, 
Lift not your hands to It for help — for It 
As impotently rolls as you or I. 



1879 and 1889 LXXII 

And that inverted Bowl they call the Sky, 
Whereunder crawling coop'd we live and die, 

Lift not your hands to It for help — for It 
As impotently moves as you or I. 



224 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 LIII 

With Earth's first Glay They did the Last Man's knead, 
And then of the last Harvest sow'd the Seed : 

Yea, the first Morning of Creation wrote 
What the Last Dawn of Reckoning shall read. 



1868 LXXIX 

With Earth's first Clay They did the Last Man knead, 
And there of the Last Harvest sow'd the Seed; 

And the first Morning of Creation wrote 
What the Last Dawn of Reckoning shall read. 



1872 LXXIII 

With Earth's first Clay They did the Last Man knead, 
And there of the Last Harvest sow'd the Seed: 

And the first Morning of Creation wrote 
What the Last Dawn of Reckoning shall read. 



1879 and 1889 LXXIII 

With Earth's first Clay They did the Last Man knead, 
And there of the Last Harvest sow'd the Seed: 

And the first Morning of Creation wrote 
What the Last Dawn of Reckoning shall read. 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 225 



1859 



[The quatrain printed below was not included in the 
first edition, ,] 



1868 LXXX 

Yesterday This Day's Madness did prepare ; 
To-morrow's Silence, Triumph, or Despair: 

Drink ! for you know not whence you came, nor why 
Drink ! for you know not why you go, nor where. 



1872 LXXIV 

Yesterday This Day's Madness did prepare; 
To-morrow's Silence, Triumph, or Despair: 

Drink ! for you know not whence you came, nor why 
Drink ! for you know not why you go, nor where. 



1879 and 1889 LXXIV 

Yesterday This Day's Madness did prepare; 
To-morrow's Silence, Triumph, or Despair: 

Drink ! for you know not whence you came, nor why 
Drink ! for you know not why you go, nor where. 



226 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 LIV 

I tell Thee this — When, starting from the Goal, 
Over the shoulders of the flaming Foal 

Of Heav'n Parwin and Mushtara they flung, 
In my predestin'd Plot of Dust and Soul 



1868 LXXXI 

I tell you this — When, started from the Goal, 
Over the flaming shoulders of the Foal 

Of Heav'n Parwin and Mushtari they flung, 
In my predestin'd Plot of Dust and Soul 



1872 LXXV 

I tell you this — When, started from the Goal, 
Over the flaming shoulders of the Foal 

Of Heav'n Parwin and Mushtari they flung, 
In my predestin'd Plot of Dust and Soul. 



1879 and 1889 LXXV 

I tell you this — When, started from the Goal, 
Over the flaming shoulders of the Foal 

Of Heav'n Parwin and Mushtari they flung, 
In my predestined Plot of Dust and Soul 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 227 



1859 LV 

The Vine had struck a Fibre ; which about 
If clings my Being — let the Sufi flout ; 

Of my Base Metal may be filed a Key, 
That shall unlock the Door he howls without. 



1868 LXXXII 

The Vine had struck a fibre: which about 
If clings my Being — let the Dervish flout ; 
Of my Base metal may be filed a Key, 
That shall unlock the Door he howls without. 



1872 LXXVI 

The Vine had struck a fibre: which about 
If clings my Being — let the Dervish flout ; 
Of my Base metal may be filed a Key, 
That shall unlock the Door he howls without. 



1879 and 1889 LXXVI 

The Vine had struck a fibre : which about 
If clings my Being — let the Dervish flout ; 

Of my Base metal may be filed a Key 
That shall unlock the Door he howls without. 



228 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 LVI 

And this I know: whether the one True Light, 
Kindle to Love, or Wrathconsume me quite, 
One Glimpse of It within the Tavern caught 
Better than in the Temple lost outright. 



1868 LXXXIII 

And this I know : whether the one True Light, 
Kindle to Love, or Wrath-consume me quite, 

One Flash of It within the Tavern caught 
Better than in the Temple lost outright. 



1872 LXXVII 

And this I know : whether the one True Light 
Kindle to Love, or Wrath-consume me quite, 
One Flash of It within the Tavern caught 
Better than in the Temple lost outright. 



1879 and 1889 LXXVII 

And this I know: whether the one True Light 
Kindle to Love, or Wrath-consume me quite, 
One Flash of It within the Tavern caught 
Better than in the Temple lost outright. 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 229 



1859 

[The quatrain printed below was not included in the 
first edition.] 



1868 LXXXIV 

What ! out of senseless Nothing to provoke 
A conscious Something to resent the yoke 

Of unpermitted Pleasure, under pain 
Of Everlasting Penalties, if broke ! 



1872 LXXVIII 

What ! out of senseless Nothing to provoke 
A conscious Something to resent the yoke 

Of unpermitted Pleasure, under pain 
Of Everlasting Penalties, if broke ! 



1879 and 1889 LXXVIII 

What ! out of senseless Nothing to provoke 
A conscious Something to resent the yoke 

Of unpermitted Pleasure, under pain 
Of Everlasting Penalties, if broke ! 



230 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 

[The quatrain printed below was not included in the 
first edition.] 



1868 LXXXV 

What ! from his helpless Creature be repaid 
Pure Gold for what he lent us dross-allay'd- 

Sue for a Debt we never did contract, 
And cannot answer — Oh the sorry trade ! 



1872 LXXIX 

What! from his helpless Creature be repaid 
Pure Gold for what he lent us dross-allay'd- 

Sue for a Debt we never did contract, 
And cannot answer — Oh the sorry trade! 



1879 and 1889 LXXIX 

What! from his helpless Creature be repaid 
Pure Gold for what he lent him dross-allay'd— - 

Sue for a Debt he never did contract, 
And cannot answer — Oh the sorry trade ! 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 231 



1859 LVII 

Oh, Thou, who didst with Pitfall and with Gin 
Beset the Road I was to wander in, 

Thou wilt not with Predestination round 
Enmesh me, and impute my Fall to Sin? 



1868 LXXXVII 

Oh Thou, who didst with pitfall and with gin 
Beset the Road I was to wander in, 

Thou wilt not with Predestin'd Evil round 
Enmesh, and then impute my Fall to Sin? 



1872 LXXX 

Oh Thou, who didst with pitfall and with gin 
Beset the Road I was to wander in, 

Thou wilt not with Predestin'd Evil round 
Enmesh, and then impute my Fall to Sin! 



1879 and 1889 LXXX 

Oh Thou, who didst with pitfall and with gin 
Beset the Road I was to wander in, 

Thou wilt not with Predestined Evil round 
Enmesh, and then impute my Fall to Sin ! 



232 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 LVIII 

Oh, Thou, who Man of baser Earth didst make, 
And who with Eden didst devise the Snake; 
For all the Sin wherewith the Face of Man 
Is blacken'd, Man's Forgiveness give — and take ! 

1868 LXXXVIII 

Oh Thou, who Man of baser Earth didst make, 
And ev'n with Paradise devise the Snake: 

For all the Sin the Face of wretched Man 
Is black with — Man's Forgiveness give — and take ! 

1872 LXXXI 

Oh Thou, who Man of baser Earth didst make, 
And ev'n with Paradise devise the Snake : 

For all the Sin wherewith the Face of Man 
Is blacken'd — Man's Forgiveness give — and take! 

:Ji jjj sjs ^c s|: :jc 

1879 and 1889 LXXXI 

Oh Thou, who Man of baser Earth didst make, 
And ev'n with Paradise devise the Snake: 

For all the Sin wherewith the Face of Man 
Is blacken'd — Man's forgiveness give — and take! 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 233 

KUZA-NAMA 

1859 LIX 

Listen again. One Evening at the Close 
Of Ramazan, ere the better Moon arose, 

In that old Potter's Shop I stood alone 
With the clay Population round in Rows. 

1868 LXXXIX 

As under cover of departing Day 
Slunk hunger-stricken Ramazan away, 

Once more within the Potter's house alone 
I stood, surrounded by the Shapes of Clay. 

1872 LXXXII 

As under cover of departing Day 
Slunk hunger-stricken Ramazan away, 

Once more within the Potter's house alone 
I stood, surrounded by the Shapes of Clay. 

1879 and 1889 LXXXII 

As under cover of departing Day 
Slunk hunger-stricken Ramazan away, 

Once more within the Potter's house alone 
I stood, surrounded by the Shapes of Clay. 



234 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 

[The quatrain printed below was not included in the 
first edition.] 



1868 XC 

And once again there gather'd a scarce heard 
Whisper among them; as it were, the stirr'd 
Ashes of some all but extinguisht Tongue, 
Which mine ear kindled into living Word. 



1872 LXXXIII 

Shapes of all Sorts and Sizes, great and small, 
That stood along the floor and by the wall; 

And some loquacious Vessels were; and some 
Listen'd perhaps, but never talk'd at all. 



1879 and 1889 LXXXIII 

Shapes of all Sorts and Sizes, great and small, 
That stood along the floor and by the wall ; 

And some loquacious Vessels were; and some 
Listen'd perhaps, but never talk'd at all. 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 235 



1859 LXI 

Then said another — "Surely not in vain 

"My Substance from the common Earth was ta'en, 

"That He who subtly wrought me into Shape 
"Should stamp me back to common Earth again." 



1868 XCI 

Said one among them — "Surely not in vain, 

"My Substance from the common Earth was ta'en, 

"That He who subtly wrought me into Shape 
"Should stamp me back to shapeless Earth again?" 



1872 LXXXIV 

Said one among them — "Surely not in vain 
My substance of the common Earth was ta'en 

And to this Figure moulded, to be broke, 
Or trampled back to shapeless Earth again." 



1879 and 1889 LXXXIV 

Said one among them — "Surely not in vain 
"My substance of the common Earth was ta'en 

"And to this Figure moulded, to be broke, 
"Or trampled back to shapeless Earth again." 



236 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 LXII 

Another said — "Why, ne'er a peevish Boy, 
"Would break the Bowl from which he drank in Joy ; 

"Shall He that made the Vessel in pure Love 
"And Fansy, in an after Rage destroy!" 



1868 XCII 

Another said, "Why, ne'er a peevish Boy 

"Would break the Cup from which he drank in Joy ; 

"Shall He that of his own free Fancy made 
"The Vessel, in an after-rage destroy !" 



1872 LXXXV 

Then said a Second — "Ne'er a peevish Boy 
"Would break the Bowl from which he drank in joy; 

"And He that with his hand the Vessel made 
"Will surely not in after Wrath destroy." 



1879 and 1889 LXXXV 

Then said a Second — "Ne'er a peevish Boy 

"Would break the Bowl from which he drank in joy; 

"And He that with his hand the Vessel made 
"Will surely not in after Wrath destroy." 






VARIATIONS IN TEXT 237 



1859 LXIII 

None answer'd this; but after Silence spake 
A Vessel of a more ungainly Make: 

"They sneer at me for leaning all awry; 
"What ! did the Hand then of the Potter shake !" 



1868 XCIII 

None answer'd this; but after silence spake 
Some Vessel of a more ungainly Make ; 

"They sneer at me for leaning all awry; 
"What! did the Hand then of the Potter shake?" 



1872 LXXXVI 

After a momentary silence spake 
Some Vessel of a more ungainly Make ; 

"They sneer at me for leaning all awry : 
"What ! did the Hand then of the Potter shake ?" 



1879 and 1889 LXXXVI 

After a momentary silence spake 
Some Vessel of a more ungainly Make; 

"They sneer at me for leaning all awry: 
"What ! did the Hand then of the Potter shake ?" 



238 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 LX 

And, strange to tell, among that Earthen Lot 
Some could articulate, while others not: 

And suddenly one more impatient cried — 
Who is the Potter, pray, and who the Pot?" 



1868 XCIV 

Thus with the Dead as with the Living, What? 
And Why? so ready, but the Wherefor not, 

One on a sudden peevishly exclaim'd, 
"Which is the Potter, pray, and which the Pot?' 



1872 LXXXVII 

Whereat some one of the loquacious Lot — 
I think a Sufi pipkin — waxing hot — 

"All this of Pot and Potter— Tell me, then, 
"Who makes- Who sells- Who buys- Who is the Pot?" 



1879 and 1889 LXXXVII 

Whereat some one of the loquacious Lot — 
I think a Sufi pipkin — waxing hot — 

"All this of Pot and Potter— Tell me, then, 
"Who is the Potter, pray, and who the Pot?" 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT . 239 



1859 LXIV 

Said one — "Folks of a surly Tapster tell, 
"And daub his Visage with the Smoke of Hell; 

"They talk of some strict Testing of us — Pish ! 
"He's a Good Fellow, and 'twill all be well." 



1868 XCV 

Said one — "Folks of a surly Master tell, 
"And daub his Visage with the Smoke of Hell; 

"They talk of some sharp Trial of us — Pish ! 
"He's a Good Fellow, and 'twill all be welL' , 



1872 LXXXVIII 

"Why," said another, "Some there are who tell 
"Of one who threatens he will toss to Hell 

"The luckless Pots he marr'd in making — Pish ! 
"He's a Good Fellow, and 'twill all be well." 



1879 and 1889 LXXXVIII 

"Why," said another, "Some there are who tell 
"Of one who threatens he will toss to Hell 

"The luckless Pots he marr'd in making — Pish ! 
"He's a Good Fellow, and 'twill all be well." 



240 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 LXV 

Then said another with a long-drawn Sigh, 
"My Clay with long oblivion is gone dry: 
"But, fill me with the old familiar Juice, 
"Methinks I might recover by-and-bye !" 



1868 XCVI 

"Well," said another, "Whoso will, let try, 

"My Clay with long Oblivion is gone dry : 
"But, fill me with the old familiar Juice, 
"Methinks I might recover by-and-bye." 



1872 LXXXIX 

"Well," murmur'd one, "Let whoso make or buy, 
"My Clay with long Oblivion is gone dry: 
"But fill me with the old familiar Juice, 
"Methinks I might recover by and by." 



1879 and 1889 LXXXIX 

"Well," murmur'd one, "Let whoso make or buy, 
"My Clay with long Oblivion is gone dry: 
"But fill me with the old familiar Juice, 
"Methinks I might recover by and by." 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 241 



1859 LXVI 

So while the Vessels one by one were speaking, 
One spied the little Crescent all were seeking: 

And then they jogg'd each other, "Brother ! Brother ! 
"Hark to the Porter's Shoulder-knot a-creaking !" 



1868 XCVII 

So while the Vessels one by one were speaking, 
One spied the little Crescent all were seeking: 

And then they jogg'd each other, "Brother ! Brother ! 
"Now for the Porter's shoulder-knot a-creaking!" 

1872 XC 

So while the Vessels one by one were speaking, 
The little Moon look'd in that all were seeking: 

And then they jogg'd each other, "Brother ! Brother ! 
"Now for the Porter's shoulder-knot a-creaking!" 
****** 

1879 and 1889 XC 

So while the Vessels one by one were speaking, 
The little Moon look'd in that all were seeking: 

And then they jogg'd each other, "Brother ! Brother ! 
"Now for the Porter's shoulder-knot a-creaking!" 



242 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 LXVII 

Ah, with the Grape my fading Life provide, 
And wash my Body whence the Life has died, 
And in a Windingsheet of Vine-leaf wrapt, 
So bury me by some sweet Garden-side. 



1868 XCVIII 

Ah, with the Grape my fading Life provide, 
And wash my Body whence the Life has died, 

And lay me, shrouded in the living Leaf, 
By some not unfrequented Garden-side. 



1872 XCI 

Ah, with the Grape my fading life provide, 
And wash the Body whence the Life has died, 

And lay me, shrouded in the living Leaf, 
By some not unfrequented Garden-side. 



1879 and 1889 XCI 

Ah, with the Grape my fading life provide, 
And wash the Body whence the Life has died, 

And lay me, shrouded in the living Leaf, 
By some not unfrequented Garden-side. 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 243 



1859 LXVIII 

That ev'n my buried Ashes such a Snare 
Of Perfume shall fling up into the Air, 

As not a True Believer passing by 
But shall be overtaken unaware. 



1868 C 

Then ev'n my buried Ashes such a snare 
Of Vintage shall fling up into the Air, 

As not a True-believer passing by 
But shall be overtaken unaware. 



1872 XCII 

That ev'n my buried Ashes such a snare 
Of Vintage shall fling up into the Air 

As not a True-believer passing by 
But shall be overtaken unaware. 



1879 and 1889 XCII 

That ev'n my buried Ashes such a snare 
Of Vintage shall fling up into the Air 

As not a True-believer passing by 
But shall be overtaken unaware. 



244 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 LXIX 

Indeed the Idols I have loved so long 
Have done my Credit in Men's Eye much wrong 
Have drown'd my Honour in a shallow Cup, 
And sold my Reputation for a Song. 



1868 CI 

Indeed the Idols I have loved so long 

Have done my credit in Men's eye much wrong: 

Have drown'd my Glory in a shallow Cup, 
And sold my Reputation for a Song. 



1872 XCIII 

Indeed the Idols I have loved so long* 

Have done my credit in Men's eye much wrong 

Have drown'd my Glory in a shallow Cup, 
And sold my Reputation for a Song. 



1879 and 1889 XCIII 

Indeed the Idols I have loved so long 

Have done my credit in this World much wrong: 

Have drown'd my Glory in a shallow Cup, 
And sold my Reputation for a Song. 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 245 



1859 LXX 

Indeed, indeed, Repentance oft before 

I swore — but was I sober when I swore? 

And then and then came Spring, and Rose-in-hand 
My thread-bare Penitence apieces tore. 



1868 CII 

Indeed, indeed, Repentance oft before 
I swore — but was I sober when I swore? 

And then and then came Spring, and Rose-in-hand 
My thread-bare Penitence apieces tore. 



1872 XCIV 

Indeed, indeed, Repentance oft before 
I swore — but was I sober when I swore? 

And then and then came Spring, and Rose-in-hand 
My thread-bare Penitence apieces tore. 



1879 and 1889 XCIV 

Indeed, indeed, Repentance oft before 
I swore — but was I sober when I swore? 

And then and then came Spring, and Rose-in-hand 
My thread-bare Penitence apieces tore. 



246 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 LXXI 

And much as Wine has play'd the Infidel, 
And robb'd me of my Robe of Honour- — well, 

I often wonder what the Vintners buy 
One half so precious as the Goods they sell. 



1868 cm 

And much as Wine has play'd the Infidel, 
And robb'd me of my Robe of Honour — Well, 

I often wonder what the Vintners buy 
One half so precious as the ware they sell. 



1872 XCV 

And much as Wine has play'd the Infidel, 
And robb'd me of my Robe of Honour — Well, 

I wonder often what the Vintners buy 
One half so precious as the stuff they sell. 



1879 and 1889 XCV 

And much as Wine has play'd the Infidel, 
And robb'd me of my Robe of Honour — Well, 

I wonder often what the Vintners buy 
One half so precious as the stuff they sell. 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 247 



1859 LXXII 

Alas, that Spring should vanish with the Rose ! 
That Youth's sweet-scented Manuscript should close ! 

The Nightingale that in the Branches sang, 
Ah, whence, and whither flown again, who knows ! 



1868 CIV 

Yet Ah, that Spring should vanish with the Rose ! 
That Youth's sweet-scented manuscript should close ! 

The Nightingale that in the branches sang, 
Ah whence, and whither flown again, who knows ! 



1872 XCVI 

Yet Ah, that Spring should vanish with the Rose ! 
That Youth's sweet-scented manuscript should close ! 

The Nightingale that in the branches sang, 
Ah whence, and whither flown again, who knows ! 



1879 and 1889 XCVI 

Yet Ah, that Spring should vanish with the Rose ! 
That Youth's sweet-scented manuscript should close ! 

The Nightingale that in the branches sang, 
Ah whence, and whither flown again, who knows ! 



248 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 

[The quatrain printed below was not included in the 
first edition.] 



1868 CV 

Would but the Desert of the Fountain yield 
One glimpse — if dimly, yet indeed, reveal'd, 

Toward which the fainting Traveller might spring, 
As springs the trampled herbage of the field! 



1872 XCVII 

Would but the Desert of the Fountain yield 
One glimpse — if dimly, yet indeed, reveal'd, 

To which the fainting Traveller might spring, 
As springs the trampled herbage of the field! 



1879 and 1889 XCVII 

Would but the Desert of the Fountain yield 
One glimpse — if dimly, yet indeed, reveal'd, 

To which the fainting Traveller might spring, 
As springs the trampled herbage of the field ! 






VARIATIONS IN TEXT 249 



1859 

[The quatrain printed below was not included in the 
first edition.] 



1868 CVI 

Oh if the World were but to re-create, 

That we might catch ere closed the Book of Fate, 

And make The Writer on a fairer leaf 
Inscribe our names, or quite obliterate ! 



1872 XCVIII 

Would but some winged Angel ere too late 
Arrest the yet unfolded Roll of Fate, 

And make the stern Recorder otherwise 
Enregister, or quite obliterate! 



1879 and 1889 XCVIII 

Would but some winged Angel ere too late 
Arrest the yet unfolded Roll of Fate, 

And make the stern Recorder otherwise 
Enregister, or quite obliterate! 



250 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 LXXIII 

Ah Love ! could thou and I with Fate conspire 
To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire, 
Would not we shatter it to bits — and then 
Re-mould it nearer to the Heart's Desire ! 

1868 CVIII 

Ah Love ! could you and I with Fate conspire 
To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire, 
Would not we shatter it to bits — and then 
Re-mould it nearer to the Heart's Desire ! 

1872 XCIX 

Ah Love ! could you and I with Him conspire 
To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire, 
Would not we shatter it to bits — and then 
Re-mould it nearer to the Heart's Desire! 



1879 and 1889 XCIX 

Ah Love ! could you and I with Him conspire 
To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire, 
Would not we shatter it to bits — and then 
Re-mould it nearer to the Heart's Desire ! 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 251 



1859 LXXIV 

Ah, Moon of my Delight who know'st no wane, 
The Moon of Heav'n is rising once again: 

How oft hereafter rising shall she look 
Through this same Garden after me — in vain! 



1868 CIX 

But see! The rising Moon of Heav'n again 
Looks for us, Sweet-heart, through the quivering 
Plane : 
How oft hereafter rising will she look 
Among those leaves — for one of us in vain! 



1872 C 

Yon rising Moon that looks for us again — 
How oft hereafter will she wax and wane ; 

How oft hereafter rising look for us 
Through this same Garden — and for one in vain! 



1879 and 1889 C 

Yon rising Moon that looks for us again — 
How oft hereafter will she wax and wane; 

How oft hereafter rising look for us 
Through this same Garden — and for one in vain ! 






252 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



1859 LXXV 

And when Thyself with shining Foot shall pass 
Among the Guests Star-scatter'd on the Grass, 
And in thy joyous Errand reach the Spot 
Where I made one — turn down an empty Glass! 

TAMAM SHUD. 

1868 CX 

And when Yourself with silver Foot shall pass 
Among the Guests Star-scatter'd on the Grass, 

And in your joyous errand reach the spot 
Where I made One — turn down an empty Glass ! 

TAMAM. 

1872 CI 

And when like her, oh Saki, you shall pass 
Among the Guests Star-scatter'd on the Grass, 

And in your blissful errand reach the spot 
Where I made One — turn down an empty Glass! 

TAMAM. 

1879 and 1889 CI 

And when like her, oh Saki, you shall pass 
Among the Guests Star-scatter'd on the Grass, 

And in your joyous errand reach the spot 
Where I made One — turn down an empty Glass ! 

TAMAM. 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 253 

Stanza which appeared in the First Edition only. 
1859 XLV 

But leave the Wise to wrangle, and with me 
The Quarrel of the Universe let be: 

And, in some corner of the Hubbub coucht, 
Make Game of that which makes as much of Thee. 

Stanzas which appeared in the Second Edition only. 
1868 XIV 

Were it not Folly, Spider-like to spin 
The Thread of present Life away to win 

What? for ourselves, who know not if we shall 
Breathe out the very Breath we now breathe in! 



XX* 

The Palace that to Heav'n his pillars threw, 
And Kings the forehead on his threshold drew — 

I saw the solitary Ringdove there, 
And "Coo, coo, coo," she cried ; and "Coo, coo, coo." 

*Quoted in the note to Stanza xvm in the Third and Fourth 
Editions. 



254 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



XXVIII 

Another Voice, when I am sleeping, cries, 

"The Flower should open with the Morning skies.' 

And a retreating Whisper, as I wake — 
"The Flower that once has blown for ever dies." 



XLIV 

Do you, within your little hour of Grace, 
The waving Cypress in your Arms enlace, 

Before the Mother back into her arms 
Fold, and dissolve you in a last embrace. 



LXV 

If but the Vine and Love-abjuring Band 
Are in the Prophet's Paradise to stand, 

Alack, I doubt the Prophet's Paradise. 
Were empty as the hollow of one's Hand. 



LXXVII 

For let Philosopher and Doctor preach 

Of what they will, and what they will not — each 

Is but one Link in an eternal Chain 
That none can slip, nor break, nor over-reach. 



VARIATIONS IN TEXT 255 



LXXXVI 



Nay, but, for terror of his wrathful Face, 
I swear I will not call Injustice Grace; 

Not one Good Fellow of the Tavern but 
Would kick so poor a Coward from the place. 



XCIX 

Whither resorting from the vernal Heat 

Shall Old Acquaintance Old Acquaintance greet, 

Under the Branch that leans above the Wall 
To shed his Blossom over head and feet. 



CVII 

Better, oh better, cancel from the Scroll 
Of Universe one luckless Human Soul, 

Than drop by drop enlarge the Flood that rolls 
Hoarser with Anguish as the Ages roll. 



COMPARATIVE TABLE OF STANZAS IN THE 
FIVE EDITIONS 



Ed. 1 


Ed. 2 


Edd. 3, 4 & 5 


Preface 


LXIX 


XLIV 


Preface 


LXX 


XLV 


I 


I 


I 


II 


II 


II 


III 


III 


III 


IV 


IV 


IV 


V 


V 


V 


VI 


VI 


VI 


VII 


VII 


VII 


VIII 


IX 


IX 


IX 


X 


X 


X 


XI 


XI 


XI 


XII 


XII 


XII 


XIII 


XIII 


XIII 


XV 


XIV 


XIV 


XVII 


XVI 


XV 


XVI 


XV 


XVI 


XVIII 


XVII 


XVII 


XIX 


XVIII 


XVIII 


XXIV 


XIX 


XIX 


XXV 


XX 


XX 


XXI 


XXI 


XXI 


XXII 


XXII 


XXII 


XXIII 


XXIII 


XXIII 


XXVI 


XXIV 


XXIV 


XXVII 


XXV 


XXV 


XXIX 


XXVI 


XXVI 


LXVI 
257 


LXIII 



258 



RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



Ed. 1 


Ed. 2 


Edd. 3, 4 & 5 


XXVII 


XXX 


XXVII 


XXVIII 


XXXI 


XXVIII 


XXIX 


XXXII 


XXIX 


XXX 


XXXIII 


XXX 


XXXI 


XXXIV 


XXXI 


XXXII 


XXXV 


XXXII 


XXXIII 


XXXVII 


XXXIV 


XXXIV 


XXXVIII 


XXXV 


XXXV 


XXXIX 


XXXVI 


XXXVI 


XL 


XXXVII 


XXXVII 


LIX 


LVII 


XXXVIII 


XLIX 


XLVIII 


XXXIX 


LVI 


LIV 


XL 


LVII 


LV 


XLI 


LVIII 


LVI 


XLII 


LX 


LVIII 


XLIII 


LXI 


LIX 


XLIV 


LXII 


LX 


XLV 






XLVI 


LXXIII 


LXVIII 


XLVII 


XLV 


XLII 


XLVIII 


XLVI 


XLIII 


XLIX 


LXXIV 


LXIX 


L 


LXXV 


LXX 


LI 


LXXVI 


LXXI 


LII 


LXXVIII 


LXXII 


LIII 


LXXIX 


LXXIII 


LIV 


LXXXI 


LXXV 


LV 


LXXXII 


LXXVI 


LVI 


LXXXIII 


LXXVII 


LVII 


LXXXVII 


LXXX 



COMPARATIVE TABLE 



259 



Ed. 1 


Ed. 2 


Edd. 3, 4 & 5 


LVIII 


LXXXVIII 


LXXXI 


LIX 


LXXXIX 


LXXXII 


LX 


XCIV 


LXXXVII 


LXI 


XCI 


LXXXIV 


LXII 


XCII 


LXXXV 


LXIII 


XCIII 


LXXXVI 


LXIV 


xcv 


LXXXVIII 


LXV 


XCVI 


LXXXIX 


LXVI 


XCVII 


XC 


LXVII 


XCVIII 


XCI 


LXVIII 


c 


XCII 


LXIX 


CI 


XCIII 


LXX 


CII 


XCIV 


LXXI 


cm 


xcv 


LXXII 


CIV 


XCVI 


LXXIII 


CVIII 


XCIX 


LXXIV 


CIX 


c 


LXXV 


ex 


CI 




VIII 


VIII 




XIV 






XX 


Note on 
XVIII 




XXVIII 






XXXVI 


XXXIII 




XLI 


XXXVIII 




XLII 


XXXIX 




XLIII 


XL 



260 



RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 



Ed. 1 



Ed. 2 


Edd. 3, 4 & 5 


XLIV 




XLVII 


XLVI 


XLVIII 


XLVII 


L 


XLIX 


LI 


L 


LII 


LI 


LIII 


LII 


LIV 


LIII 


LV 


XLI 


LXIII 


LXI 


LXIV 


LXII 


LXV 




LXVII 


LXIV 


LXVIII 


LXV 


LXXI 


LXVI 


LXXII 


LXVII 


LXXVII 




LXXX 


LXXIV 


LXXXIV 


LXXVIII 


LXXXV 


LXXIX 


LXXXVI 




XC 


LXXXIII 


XCIX 




cv 


XCVII 


CVI 


XCVIII 


CVII 





BIBLIOGRAPHY 

OF 

ORIGINAL FITZGERALD EDITIONS 

First Edition. 

Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, the Astronomer- Poet 
of Persia. Translated into English verse. London: 
Bernard Quaritch, Castle Street, Leicester Square. 1859. 

On the verso: G. Norman, Printer, Maiden Lane, 
Covent Garden, London. 

Small quarto. Brown paper wrappers, 75 quatrains, 
22 notes. 

Second Edition. 

Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, the Astronomer-Poet 
of Persia. Rendered into English Verse. Second Edi- 
tion. London: Bernard Quaritch, Piccadilly. 1872. 

(John Childs and Sons, Printers.) Quarto. Paper 
wrappers, 110 quatrains, 25 notes. 

Third Edition. 

Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, the Astronomer-Poet 
of Persia. Rendered into English Verse. Third Edi- 
tion. London: Bernard Quaritch, Piccadilly. 1872. 

Quarto, half Roxburghe, maroon cloth. 101 quatrains. 

261 






262 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM 

Fourth Edition. 

Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam and the Salaman and 
Absal of Jami. Rendered into English Verse. Bernard 
Quaritch, 15 Piccadilly, London. 1879. 

Fcap. 4to, half Roxburghe. 101 quatrains. 

Fifth Edition. 

Letters and Literary Remains of Edward FitzGeralo, 
Edited by William Aldis Wright, in Three Volumes. 
London : Macmillan and Co., and New York. 1889. All 
Rights Reserved. 

Crown 8vo. Text in volume 3. 101 quatrains. 

























































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